from the series Movie Corner
A24 Films, Compliments of the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival
By Howard McQuitter II
Annie Baker won the Pulitzer Prize for writing The Flick and her directing debut film is Janet Planet. I will regretfully say, watching Janet Planet is more than a challenge and uncompelling to say the least.
I can also comment that the film takes place in a picturesque New England in 1991, when a single mother, Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and her very manipulative, eleven-year-old daughter, Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) live in a cabin. Lacy is not enjoying summer camp so she tells her mother if she doesn’t come and get her, she will kill herself. The girl has already lied to the camp leaders by saying her mother’s boyfriend had been in a car accident and is dying.
As for Janet, she seems to go through three transitory relationships. First, she has a slow-witted, weird boyfriend, Wayne (Will Patton) who looks like he should change his diet and begin an exercise program. When Wayne unceremoniously exits from the scene, Regina (Sophie Okonedo), enters as an old friend seeking a place to stay after her breakup with a boyfriend. After Regina’s short stay, Avi (Elias Koteas), Regina’s ex-boyfriend, enters the picture with a 1960s hippie philosophy of love and religion.
As I said earlier in the review, the film, with its sumptuous 1991 New England woodland, is a pristine pastoral setting before the culture would eventually be inundated with the internet and Tiktok. Unfortunately, the main characters do not elicit much gravitas beyond their bovinity.
I have been overjoyed with most movies coming from A24 Films from Ex Machina (2015) to Moonlight (2016) to First Reformed (2018), but not Janet Planet (2023).
Cast: Julianne Nicholson (Janet), Zoe Ziegler (Lacy), Will Patton (Wayne), Elias Koteas (Avi), Sophie Okonedo (Regina), Edie Moon Kearns (Sequoia), Mary Beth Brooker (Bonnie), Mary Shultz (Davina), June Walker Grossman (Susanna), Abby Harri (Emily), Jeremy Louise Eaton (Performer 1), Raky Sastri (Performer 2), John Peitso (Performer 3), Carolyn Walker (Performer 4), Matthew Glassman (Performer 5), Luke Philip Bosco (Male Counselor).
Director: Annie Baker.
Screenwriter: Annie Baker.
Cinematography: Maria von Hausswolff.
Running time: 113 minutes. Country: USA.
Howard McQuitter II is a longtime movie critic. He has been reviewing movies for the alley since 2002.
