April 23, 2026
FILM: I SWEAR
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: KIRK JONES
STARRING: ROBERT ARAMAYO, MAXINE PEAKE, SHIRLEY HENDERSON
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Earlier this year, the big news coming out of the BAFTA Awards (the British equivalent of the Oscars) was that Robert Aramayo beat out favorites Timothee Chalamet and Michael B. Jordan for the Best Actor prize. It was a surprise to many, including Aramayo himself. The film for which he won, I Swear, is only now being distributed in the U.S. It’s based on the true story of John Davidson, who was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome when he was just hitting adolescence. He would later rise from obscurity to receive a medal from Queen Elizabeth. For those unfamiliar, the disease leads to uncontrollable tics that cause head movements and often inappropriate shout outs. Interestingly, at the BAFTA ceremony, Davidson was in attendance but had to leave for yelling out racist comments as Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award early in the evening. This caused international curiosity about the man and Tourette’s which I Swear attempts to illustrate in fairly typical bio pic fashion.
The film begins as Davidson is about to receive his award from the Queen in 2019 and then flashes back to 1983 when his symptoms first surfaced. Davidson was getting ready to start “big school” (or high school) and was a soccer athlete when the tics and twitches began to appear. The subsequent shouts and spitting of food resulted in the boy being taunted at school and forced to suffer in private with a generally unsupportive family. Jumping ahead thirteen years, Davidson is on medications for his affliction but is still struggling when he meets Dottie, the mother of one of his friends. She is a mental health nurse dealing with her own health problems but takes him under her wing and shows a level of support that Davidson had not previously received.
Like most bio pics, I Swear has a lot to cover about Davidson’s life. The time jump though doesn’t give us much sense as to how exactly he dealt with his family, school, and early adulthood while battling Tourette’s after its initial onset. That could have been a movie unto itself. Clearly, writer/director Kirk Jones wanted to get to the period when his life started taking a turn, specifically when the very warm Dottie (Maxine Peake) became a no-nonsense savior/advocate for him. This forms the bulk of the narrative and it feels, at times, like just a series of significant moments written for mostly dramatic effect. There are plenty of scenes which feature the various things Davidson would shout out to people. Are these emphasized to gage sympathy from the audience or to get them to react, or worse, laugh? Certainly, the script could have used more insight into the affliction. Davidson and Dottie only rather late in the game pull out a book on the subject. Had they not explored this earlier? What was going on internally with him during all of those years?
The film does suggest how little was known about Tourette’s during this period of the late 1990s and early 2000s. It also brings together other sufferers for community meetings (one in particular does yield some laughs as everyone is shouting out at the same time) suggesting this is more than a single person’s issue. Davidson becomes an advocate himself and spokesperson at some of these gatherings. This section of the film could have used a bit more elaboration as the jump back to the scene with the Queen occurs a bit too quickly.
Narrative issues aside, Robert Aramayo is excellent as Davidson. He does a great job of bringing out the physical side of the man’s affliction, including the various head jerks and sudden vocally-raised shouts. He also demonstrates the growth of Davidson as he matures into a serious advocate. One might call this an “Oscar-y” performance destined for even more awards but given who Davidson is, it appears to be an uncanny portrayal.
Credit should also be given to Scott Ellis Watson who plays young John Davidson as he is first dealing with the disease. He sensitively handles the transition and makes us feel deeply for what he is experiencing. I’d like to see a longer film focusing on this earlier period of Davidson’s life featuring the same actor.
Maxine Peake is very good as Dottie exuding strength and warmth that anyone with Tourette’s would love to have on their side. Her own health struggles never really come to the surface though on screen and their mention seems driven by the reality of their presence during Davidson’s earlier years with her than anything necessary for the narrative as a whole.
Despite some of the story holes, I Swear definitely provides an eye-opening account of Davidson’s struggle which soundly brings the affliction to a wider, international audience.
I Swear opens in U.S. theaters this week.
FILM: I SWEAR
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: KIRK JONES
STARRING: ROBERT ARAMAYO, MAXINE PEAKE, SHIRLEY HENDERSON
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Earlier this year, the big news coming out of the BAFTA Awards (the British equivalent of the Oscars) was that Robert Aramayo beat out favorites Timothee Chalamet and Michael B. Jordan for the Best Actor prize. It was a surprise to many, including Aramayo himself. The film for which he won, I Swear, is only now being distributed in the U.S. It’s based on the true story of John Davidson, who was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome when he was just hitting adolescence. He would later rise from obscurity to receive a medal from Queen Elizabeth. For those unfamiliar, the disease leads to uncontrollable tics that cause head movements and often inappropriate shout outs. Interestingly, at the BAFTA ceremony, Davidson was in attendance but had to leave for yelling out racist comments as Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award early in the evening. This caused international curiosity about the man and Tourette’s which I Swear attempts to illustrate in fairly typical bio pic fashion.
The film begins as Davidson is about to receive his award from the Queen in 2019 and then flashes back to 1983 when his symptoms first surfaced. Davidson was getting ready to start “big school” (or high school) and was a soccer athlete when the tics and twitches began to appear. The subsequent shouts and spitting of food resulted in the boy being taunted at school and forced to suffer in private with a generally unsupportive family. Jumping ahead thirteen years, Davidson is on medications for his affliction but is still struggling when he meets Dottie, the mother of one of his friends. She is a mental health nurse dealing with her own health problems but takes him under her wing and shows a level of support that Davidson had not previously received.
Like most bio pics, I Swear has a lot to cover about Davidson’s life. The time jump though doesn’t give us much sense as to how exactly he dealt with his family, school, and early adulthood while battling Tourette’s after its initial onset. That could have been a movie unto itself. Clearly, writer/director Kirk Jones wanted to get to the period when his life started taking a turn, specifically when the very warm Dottie (Maxine Peake) became a no-nonsense savior/advocate for him. This forms the bulk of the narrative and it feels, at times, like just a series of significant moments written for mostly dramatic effect. There are plenty of scenes which feature the various things Davidson would shout out to people. Are these emphasized to gage sympathy from the audience or to get them to react, or worse, laugh? Certainly, the script could have used more insight into the affliction. Davidson and Dottie only rather late in the game pull out a book on the subject. Had they not explored this earlier? What was going on internally with him during all of those years?
The film does suggest how little was known about Tourette’s during this period of the late 1990s and early 2000s. It also brings together other sufferers for community meetings (one in particular does yield some laughs as everyone is shouting out at the same time) suggesting this is more than a single person’s issue. Davidson becomes an advocate himself and spokesperson at some of these gatherings. This section of the film could have used a bit more elaboration as the jump back to the scene with the Queen occurs a bit too quickly.
Narrative issues aside, Robert Aramayo is excellent as Davidson. He does a great job of bringing out the physical side of the man’s affliction, including the various head jerks and sudden vocally-raised shouts. He also demonstrates the growth of Davidson as he matures into a serious advocate. One might call this an “Oscar-y” performance destined for even more awards but given who Davidson is, it appears to be an uncanny portrayal.
Credit should also be given to Scott Ellis Watson who plays young John Davidson as he is first dealing with the disease. He sensitively handles the transition and makes us feel deeply for what he is experiencing. I’d like to see a longer film focusing on this earlier period of Davidson’s life featuring the same actor.
Maxine Peake is very good as Dottie exuding strength and warmth that anyone with Tourette’s would love to have on their side. Her own health struggles never really come to the surface though on screen and their mention seems driven by the reality of their presence during Davidson’s earlier years with her than anything necessary for the narrative as a whole.
Despite some of the story holes, I Swear definitely provides an eye-opening account of Davidson’s struggle which soundly brings the affliction to a wider, international audience.
I Swear opens in U.S. theaters this week.