Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia

Watch Movie

Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia

1984

0h 46m

8.5(2 votes)

Drama

TV Movie

Overview

13-year-old Brian has problems reading, which his teachers attribute to laziness. It is later discovered that he has Dyslexia.

Links & Resources

IMDbView

Social & External

IMDb

Cast & Crew

6 members

Acting

Madge Sinclair

Miss Tomas

Acting

River Phoenix

Brian Ellsworth

Acting

Joaquin Phoenix

Robby Ellsworth

Acting

Judy Farrell

Barbara Ellsworth

No Image

Acting

Stephanie Evans

Kim

No Image

Acting

Bo Kaprall

Walter Ellsworth

No Image

Similar Movies

6.5

2001

Joy Ride

Three young people on a road trip from Colorado to New Jersey talk to a trucker on their CB radio, then must escape when he turns out to be a psychotic killer.

Movie

6.6

1989

The Fabulous Baker Boys

The lives of two struggling musicians, who happen to be brothers, inevitably change when they team up with a beautiful, up-and-coming singer.

Movie

5.9

1989

Next of Kin

Truman Gates, a Chicago cop, sets out to find his brother's killer. Meanwhile, another of his brothers, Briar (a hillbilly) decides to find the killer himself.

Movie

6.5

1982

The Shadow Riders

After starring in "The Sacketts", Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott team up again but this time as Mac and Dal Traven, in a movie based on a classic Louis L'Amour novel. They are brothers, who meet up at the end of the Civil War fighting on opposite sides. They go home only to find their family in dire need and their sisters and brother kidnapped by ruthless raiders. They set out to rescue their family.

Movie

10.0

2022

Kekaiulu Hula Studio

Kekaiulu Hula Studio follows the Proclaimed Hula Halau of the same name, showcasing their twist on what the real reason for hula is and what life as a dancer in the halau is really like. Something previously unseen in the public eye.

Movie

6.5

2014

Gentlemen

Beaten up, bruised, and scared, a young writer hides in a Stockholm apartment, writing the story of its disappeared inhabitants: the flamboyant and charismatic Morgan brothers.

Movie

5.5

2006

Wedding Wars

Ben, a slightly uptight man, ends up hiring his gay brother Shel, a party planner, to be his wedding planner. The two seem to be getting along famously, but then in the midst of planning, politics enters the fray. Ben is engaged to the governor's daughter, and the governor has taken a public stance against same sex marriage. Though his constituents seem to approve of his political agenda, Shel doesn't. And he shows his displeasure by walking off the job and going on strike for equal rights.

Movie

7.4

1986

A Better Tomorrow

A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.

Movie

8.0

2007

Like Stars on Earth

Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate. Colours, fish, dogs, and kites don't seem important to the adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks, and neatness. Ishaan cannot seem to get anything right in class; he is then sent to boarding school, where his life changes forever.

Movie

2025

Cookster: The Darkest Days

Misunderstood by his family, abandoned by the system, and desperate for respect, a dyslexic teenager becomes a drug dealer struggling to balance his addiction and debt to a local gangster while a rival threatens to destroy his world, driving him apart from the girl he loves and a daughter he's never known.

Movie

6.2

1999

Anya's Bell

Inspirational tale set in the late 1940s involving an elderly blind woman with a unique collection of bells in her home and a dyslexic 12-year-old boy who form an offbeat friendship to help each other overcome a disability.

Movie

6.0

2022

Rustling

In a family of sheep rustlers, a 15-year-old must go up against his domineering father to help his younger brother keep the lamb left orphaned by their latest slaughter. Rustling touchingly presents an alternative masculinity instilled not with machismo, but with empathy.

Movie

2011

And There Was No Better Brother

This story of two temperamentally different brothers takes place in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku during the 1970s. The elder brother Jalil is a married postal worker who keeps bees as a hobby. Younger brother Simurg is more adventurous by nature and capable of going after his goals, not just dreaming about them. Jalil has a recurring memory: once, when he was still a kid, his mother, pregnant with Simurg, took him to a women’s sauna. When both brothers fall in love for the same beautiful girl, their differences become apparent once again.

Movie

4.4

2020

So Long Billie

Victor and his little brother Jimmy manage to get by in an environment where their romantic misfortunes seem to be never-ending. But the arrival of Billie and her unbridled romanticism will shake both of the boys' beliefs to the core.

Movie

6.0

1984

Mrs. Soffel

Kate Soffel is married to a prison warden in Pittsburgh, and is the mother of their four children. Ed Biddle is a convicted murderer awaiting execution on death row with his brother Jack. When Kate meets Eddie through her Bible readings to the prisoners, she is drawn to him, and they pursue a clandestine relationship. She agrees to help the brothers escape, and begins a treacherous journey with them to freedom in Canada.

Movie

6.4

1946

Duel in the Sun

Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.

Movie

2021

Boys Feels: Desire in the Dark

These five award-winning coming of age short films offer a glimpse of how boys and young men tackle life's difficult desires: confronting one's demons, understanding sexual relationships, gaining the respect of one's father, or simply running away from it all. This is only the start of their complex formative years, where not every question has an answer, and not every answer makes sense. The short films are: Boys [Pojkarna] (2015); Ioana (2015); Kiem Holijanda (2017); Picnic [Piknik] (2015); Tomer & Elias [Tomer en Elias] (2016).

Movie

2023

Alone, Alone, Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea

In the wake of their Amma's deteriorating health, estranged brothers Rajesh and Shiva reunite, only to clash over BREATHE, an app offering to erase painful memories from their brains. Rajesh, a realist, and Shiva, a BREATHE addict, grapple with divergent approaches to coping. Against the backdrop of a society seduced by memory erasure, their battle becomes a poignant exploration of family, culture, technology, and the human spirit's resilience.

Movie

8.0

2022

Ósculo

Alejandro, a man with alcohol problems, helps his older brother hide something wicked in the bathroom of his house, without imagining that with this he would face a dark memory from his past.

Movie

2022

Leon's Fantasy Cut

George and Iggy, first generation Ukrainian American brothers live together in the same neighborhood where they grew up believing they are destined for great things. George is a wannabe business scion and Iggy is a small-time pot dealer and aspiring Rap mogul. Stuck together in a suffocating apartment, they are constantly at each other’s throats … convinced that their situation is temporary.

Movie

Recommended Movies

7.3

2007

Bridge to Terabithia

Jesse Aarons trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school. So he's very upset when newcomer Leslie Burke outruns him and everyone else. Despite this and other differences including that she's rich, he's poor, she's a city girl, and he's a country boy the two become fast friends. Together they create Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls, ogres, and giants where they rule as king and queen.

Movie

6.5

2014

Starving in Suburbia

When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site founder, ButterflyAna. By the time Hannah's family realizes what is happening and get Hannah the help she needs, the disease has fully taken hold and Hannah is refusing to eat. Will this family be able to exorcise the demon of anorexia from their lives?

Movie

8.1

2017

Wonder

The story of August Pullman – a boy with facial differences – who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.

Movie

6.3

2000

Cheaters

In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.

Movie

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

6.2

2010

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Accident prone teenager, Percy discovers he's actually a demi-God, the son of Poseidon, and he is needed when Zeus' lightning is stolen. Percy must master his new found skills in order to prevent a war between the Gods that could devastate the entire world.

Movie

Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story

7.3

2003

Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story

Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.

Movie

5.9

1991

Across the Tracks

When Billy returns from reform school he has to attend a different high school at the other side of town. He tries to start with a clean slate but his old rival doesn't make it easy on him and his buddy Louie tries to make him go astray again. His brother Joe, quite the opposite of Billy, is a good runner and determined to win a track scholarship. He suggests Billy to join his school's track team, which pits the two brothers against each other.

Movie

6.4

2007

The Invisible

After an attack leaves him in limbo -- invisible to the living and also near death -- a teenager discovers the only person who might be able help him is his attacker.

Movie

6.1

2012

Won't Back Down

Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.

Movie

7.1

2014

Marvellous

Dramatisation of the true story of the life of Neil "Nello" Baldwin. Born with a mild learning disability but without the burden of social embarrassment & how his inexhaustible ability to see the good in any situation overcame any stigma society tried to label him with.

Movie

5.8

2008

Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal

Based on a true story. Five high school cheerleaders, including the daughter of the school principal, run amok -- and teachers, parents and administrators allow them to get away with a wide range of scandalous behavior. Known as the "Fab Five," the girls disregard school rules, drink alcohol and post suggestive pictures on the Internet. But when the new cheerleading coach attempts to discipline them, her superiors ask her to resign.

Movie

6.1

2002

Double Teamed!

Heather and Heidi play volleyball for their school team, when their family decides that they need to go to a bigger school so that they will have a better chance for scholarships. But at the new school, the twins are discovered by the basketball coach. Inspired by the true story of Heather and Heidi Burge.

Movie

6.9

2017

I Am Elizabeth Smart

The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.

Movie

An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars

6.8

2012

An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars

A young girl struggles to maintain her school grades while competing as a gymnast.

Movie

7.4

1999

Tuesdays with Morrie

A journalist finds himself questioning his own life when his best friend, a dying man, offers him some very powerful wisdom and advice for coping in relationships, careers and society.

Movie

6.8

2022

Ray Donovan: The Movie

A showdown decades in the making brings the Donovan family legacy full circle. As the events that made Ray who he is today finally come to light, the Donovans find themselves drawn back to Boston to face the past. Each of them struggles to overcome their violent upbringing, but destiny dies hard, and only their fierce love for each other keeps them in the fight.

Movie

7.7

2025

The Unbreakable Boy

When Scott and Teresa LeRette learn that their son Austin is both autistic and has brittle bone disease, they initially worry for their son’s future. But with Scott’s growing faith and Austin’s incredible spirit, they become 'unbreakable', finding joy, gratitude, and courage even in the most trying times.

Movie

6.9

2002

The Christmas Shoes

Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.

Movie

6.3

2016

Sound of Christmas

Lizzie is a young piano teacher working at a music school while trying to save enough money for a Steinway piano. The school is gearing up for their major Christmas fundraiser and she has committed much of her time to plan the event. One afternoon, she meets Brad who takes an interest in her playing and asks if she will teach his uninterested teenage daughter. She begins to break through to the young girl, and sparks begin to fly with Brad, but she is shocked to find out that his interest is not solely in her playing, but in the property that houses the music school. She sets out to save the school and the event, but can she work things out with Brad?

Movie

7.5

2014

Where Hope Grows

Calvin Campbell is a former professional baseball player sent to an early retirement due to his panic attacks at the plate. Even though he had all the talent for the big leagues, he struggles with the curveballs life has thrown him. Today, he mindlessly sleepwalks through his days and the challenge of raising his teenager daughter. His life is in a slow downward spiral when it is suddenly awakened and invigorated by the most unlikely person – Produce, a young-man with Down syndrome who works at the local grocery store.

Movie