I’m beginning to believe that everybody in the world “has something”: some talent, some knowledge base, some special thing to offer the world. It might only be one small thing, and it might not be terribly useful, but dammit it’s ours…and it can give us a moment in the sun.

For Mark Borebach, it’s knowledge of 1980’s music, something we get a wonderful dose of in RAINMAN GOES TO ROCKWIZ.

Mark has Asperger’s Syndrome and as such is not exactly what you’d call a social butterfly. On top of that, he is 80% blind, so growing up he was picked on a lot. To cope, Mark imagined other worlds where he lived a happy life, and conceived of friends made of plastic that were completely loyal. But while he kept many of these mental wanderings to himself, there is one part of his mental capacity that he doesn’t hide:

His aptitude for 1980’s pop and rock. Pick any week at random from any year in the 80’s, and Mark can tell you with remarkable accuracy which songs were top five on the charts at the time. Eventually, someone suggested Mark take this talent for a spin on a national Australian TV game show.

The doc has a lot of heart, and we really get drawn into Mark’s life. It’s especially fascinating to consider that while he could clean up at a game like Rock Wiz were it just a matter of answering straight questions, that his Asperger’s and slight agoraphobia throw his senses off quite a great deal.

While I had a great time with RAINMAN GOES TO ROCKWIZ, I have one bone to pick. The version that is playing the festival is a 30-minute cut of the film that has been created to make the festival rounds. There are moments – specifically the end – where this cut feels rushed. While I do believe that seeing this cut is better than seeing no version at all, I do now find myself curious to see the longer edit.

RAINMAN GOES TO ROCKWIZ plays North by Northeast on Friday June 17th – 3:00pm at NFB (150 John Street).