Janet Planet

This isn't a terrible movie, but is lacking in originality. I think that, given time, director Annie Baker will find her own voice instead of trying to be Greta Gerwig. If she works with Zoe Ziegler again, she'll hopefully stop trying to turn her into the new young Saoirse Ronan, too, and let Zoe act in her own way, as I suspect she can.

The basic plot here has been done, in various ways, in many, many far better movies. Baker tried to stuff too much in here, too. The subplot, if you can call it that, about the mother was incomplete and distracted from what the young girl was going through as she was dealing with the changes she was experiencing. Sure, the relation between the mother and daughter was integral to the film, but seemed incomplete, never resolved. It was never really examined in the depth it could have been. That might have been due to the slow pace of the movie. Too little happened over too much time.

The men in the movie were never really fleshed out, either. Most obvious was "Wayne", who was sort of a good guy, but at the same time, not. We never really got to know anything about him, other than he had a nice daughter.

By sheer coincidence I just saw "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." a couple of days before I saw "Janet Planet". One could argue they are wildly different movies, but at the same time, they do cover similar topics. "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." is far better, more entertaining, and more realistic. It's fun. "Janet Planet" is dull in comparison.

But the biggest and most obvious comparison that jumps out at you as you watch "Janet Planet" would be between it and "Lady Bird". They are much more similar films than the one I mentioned above. And "Lady Bird" is much, much better.

As I said, this isn't a terrible film. I look forward to seeing what Baker can do in the future. I'm sure she has a much better film in her.

As an aside, the best song in the movie was "Miracle Man" by Bob Carpenter. Too bad it was associated with the "Wayne" character.

A smallish drama from last year starring Julianne Nicholson & newcomer Zoe Ziegler, playing a mother/daughter navigating the lazy days of summer during the early 90's. Living in a cozy cabin in the woods, the pair while away the days waiting for the new school year to start while also taking care of their romantic needs; mom seems to be unlucky in love as her conveyor belt of lovers (which include Will Patton & Elias Koteas) has left her unsatisfied while Ziegler, seemingly wise beyond the years, does things her own way w/her mom's begrudging acceptance. Not much monumentally happens in this slow burn slice of life as it just exists & we, the audience, just wallow in it which charms in tiny doses in writer/director Annie Baker's effort making this feel like a documentary then something scripted.

I am pretty baffled by the critical response to this movie, as I usually see pretty eye to eye with them. This thing was so dry and boring that I could hardly believe it. There is hardly any moment that breathed any kind of life or spark, apart from an admittedly sweet and nostalgic JC Penny's sequence - which felt more like it benefitted from just being a trip down memory lane than anything else.

There is hardly any story movement, and what few lines of dialogue can be heard are almost completely useless. Half of them are just the little girl asking basic questions which don't get answered. And lines like "I'm going to kill myself if you don't come pick me up" and "It's funny, every moment of my life is a living hell" are just obnoxious in this day and age.

Now granted, the AC was broken in our theater so that may have also had something to do with our discomfort. But we still walked out of the theater after 40 minutes. The filmmaker is talented I'm sure, but this one just wasn't for me at all.

There are many glowing reviews of this movie, but mine is not. Although there is some dialogue in this movie, the experience would hardly be altered if the sound track were muted. And, in fact, segments of the dialogue are so low-pitched that one cannot make out what is said at all. No loss!

Basically we have here a mother who is looking for a companion that will make her feel she is living an adequate life. She is housing and feeding her daughter and herself and a revolving door of successive possible saviors, but she isn't finding personal salvation. Only initial ones that somehow are unsatisfactory after a brief trial.

Rave reviews underplay the monotony of the movie and its absence of progress toward satisfaction. She cohabits with believers in Buddha, in mysterious nature, in big bang but, frankly, neither herself nor her chosen teachers of a "way" exhibit any understanding.

We end up with the daughter having reached exactly these conclusions, along with the audience, so at least we part on the same page.

The movie invites the viewer to look for symbolism, an allegory. The mother's search is perhaps that of humanity, and her "saviors" perhaps the abortive philosophical attempts of mankind. The daughter is the hope that a new generation will be more successful. And, perhaps, the final square dance is the admission that, like a dance, life's meaning is that it can be enjoyable for the moment, even though it will end and will be forgotten.

My title for this review and my summary: not illuminating.

There's a difference between minimalist and vacuous, and writer-director Annie Baker doesn't seem to know the difference. The playwright's debut feature, to put it simply, is boring, pretentious, meandering, unfocused and a big, fat waste of time. It's so dull, in fact, that the film makes the works of Kelly Reichardt appear utterly fascinating. Set in 1991 in the hippie-dominated arts community of rural western Massachusetts, the film follows the story (if one could even call it that) of middle-aged acupuncturist Janet (Julianne Nicholson) as she struggles to sort out what appears to have been a wayward, meandering life. And, as this tale plays out, it faithfully sticks to that course, too, an influence that's clearly wearing off on Janet's equally clueless, incessantly brooding, 8-year-old daughter, Lacy (newcomer Zoe Ziegler). Along the way, the duo experiences an array of cryptic, inconsequential involvements with others who are apparently fascinated with Janet (though goodness knows why), all of whom (Will Patton, Sophie Okonedo, Elias Koteas) are just as lost and boring as Janet is. So what's the point in all this? Who knows - and, not long into the picture, who cares? The raves that have been showered on this tedious, tiresome piece of filmmaking are a complete mystery to me, given its prevailing mundane nature and monotone performances by players who all sound like they've been shot up with sodium pentothal. Nicholson, in particular, comes across as so disengaged that she probably could have just as easily phoned in this performance (despite claims that this is the breakthrough role that she's supposedly been waiting for - please, watch her in "August: Osage County" (2013) instead). What's more, this picture probably has some of the worst sound quality I've ever seen in a contemporary production - so bad that I had to struggle to be able to hear what was being said (and I was sitting in the theater's second row). And the film's feeble attempts at trying to incorporate some kind of subtle, nuanced metaphysical undercurrent fail miserably as well, treated almost as if their inclusion was an afterthought. If you dare to consider giving this one a look, make sure you don't watch it when you're tired - you just might fall asleep soon after the opening credits roll, an understandable reaction, to be sure.