The action in Whole New Thing, a film from Nova Scotia, is also precipitated by self-involved parents. Thirteen-year-old Emerson lives in a remote cabin, where he writes novels, takes saunas and gives massages to his parents’ friends. But his parents’ idyll is slowly collapsing: his dad is giving up on his environmental research and his mom is nailing the hot guy next door. Meanwhile Emerson attends school for the first time to improve his math skills and learns to deal with girls, bullies and a crush on his English teacher in a whole new way. The director of this little gem, Amnon Buchbinder, completed it in record time in order to cash in on some grant money that needed to be spent.