Electrick Children

Rebecca Thomas' Electrick Children is a generally obscure 2012 film that received very little attention from critics or the general public. Whether or not attention was deserved, Elecktrick Children is a bizarre and sometimes charming visuals-driven story of teen curiosity and adventure in an unknown world. It's quite literally a personal story for director Rebecca Thomas (who was a mainstream Mormon raised in Las Vegas) and it shows as Electrick Children is more of a feast for the senses rather than a cohesive narrative-driven story.

Electrick Children features a cast of talented teenagers with Julia Garner playing the lead. She does an excellent job portraying a naive and curious Mormon experiencing elements of the outside world for the first time. She is perfectly awkward when she needs to be as her innocence and purity makes her character easy to like. The cast includes many other rebellious teenagers but her character is really the only one that gets built upon and developed. This isn't too much of a flaw as the story is really supposed to only be focused on her and her mission, but some development to these supporting characters wouldn't have hurt. Overall, Julia Garner was fantastic and I look forward to seeing her in future titles.

The story, albeit quite simple, is full of wonder but sometimes uneven. The film is heavily stylistic as we witness things through the Mormon teenager's eyes as she gazes in wonderment at things she has never seen before. There is a heavy emphasis on lighting and music, helping to immerse us in the world that this girl is experiencing for the first time. We feel just as lost as her as we meet many different types of people and engage in nefarious juvenile actions. While the film is mostly entertaining, there are noticeable slumps in the pacing. Sometimes there are quite long stretches of slow and tedious drama, and while these sequences are infrequent, it still hurts the films pacing quite a bit. Another issue with Electrick Children is the unsatisfying ending. We get a pretty great third act filled with interesting interactions but all this builds up to an abrupt and inappropriate ending. Many important questions are not answered or even acknowledged, making the film feel unfinished.

Despite the few issues, Electrick Children is a charming and strangely intriguing story of teen curiosity that resonates quite personally with the director, who clearly showed passion in their work here. The story is interesting and mostly well told when it isn't treading too lightly. The great acting from the lead actress and the colorful and dreamy narrative makes Electrick Children an experience that is easy to enjoy despite uneven pacing and poor ending. The themes of teenage angst and rebellion makes the experience a deeply personal one as we can all understand what our lead character is going through. Except for the "pregnancy through music" part.

I watch A LOT of movies. As I watched this movie, I thought that in some sense it reminded me of the movie 'Perks of Being a Wallflower'. I didn't even realize that Julia Garner is in 'Perks of Being a Wallflower'! Every scene in this movie is perfect. The music is perfect. The way they incorporate narration or conversations in each scene is unique but works very well and again, creates a certain mood. Although this is no average plot, by the end of the movie, the characters to the viewer are well-known. It's like a good book; when the book is over you almost miss the characters - and I definitely felt that in this movie. The movie felt very Nostalgic. What a beautiful film!

'Electrick Children' follows the story of a pregnant, 15 year old Rachel living in a present day Mormon society. She claims that the father of her unborn child is the voice of a singer on a rock cassette she listened to, insisting that 'God got her pregnant through the tape'. Her family insists otherwise, and Rachel goes to Las Vegas to search for the father

Electrick Children is fresh, vivid, indie feel is what makes this film I love the colors and textures in the movie to feel like it was filmed on actual film stock. The warm lights of Las Vegas, indie rock, and the desert all make way for a beautiful place for this story to unfold.

Writer/Director Rebecca Thomas understood what she meant to say, but as with so many independent filmmakers, she felt no obligation to communicate that message comprehensibly. Depicting events that could not possibly happen does not create symbolism. Failing to come up with an ending does not make the plot "open to multiple interpretations."

Admittedly I'm a bit jaded these days because I just watch to many darn movies. And a lot of them have been pretty bad of late. Well this one happens to be quite an unexpected gem!

The story is pretty enthralling from the beginning. And quite an unexpected plot. I can usually see plots unravel two steps ahead, but here it was smoothly unexpected or I was just enjoying it to much to notice.

I see this movie as a "human interest" and then partially a "coming of age" story. Smoothly eliciting a response that is very touching and self reflecting in greater or lessor degree about religion, cultural norms, life, romance, and in the end love.

One thing I didn't even get from the movie but read in the IMDb summery and from the one other comment is "Mormons". I think it's a mistake and unnecessary to the story. I've known a lot of Mormons for decades and none of them are like this. It might offend some with movie stereo types. I don't even recall them referring to them self as "Moron" in the movie. I just saw it as okay, some sort of fundamentalist/extremist religious group. It could of been of any faith, Amish, German Baptist, etc., that might share a remotely similar puritanical type lifestyle. Not a big deal, just saying calling them "Morons" detracts from the movie a little. Just forget the reference and enjoy the movie as it is.

The acting performances were very good, especially the lead who carried it through the whole movie. I hope to see more from this talented writer/director and the factors.

Highly recommended!

Rebecca Thomas' first feature as writer-director is an interesting character study of a fifteen year old Mormon girl, Rachel, played with a wonderful and understated performance by Julia Garner. It begins with daddy dearest questioning the teen about her devotion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; also known as Mormons. The wide eyed innocent proclaims an unquestioned faith in the teachings to her father. He explains that the interview must be recorded on a cassette player. She later finds the device and pops in a tape with the song "Hanging on the Telephone" on it. While listening to it, she has an epiphany. She believes that the singer is a messenger of God, and that he has chosen her to carry a modern day Baby Jesus. She becomes pregnant; and, of course, mom and dad do not believe her story of an immaculate conception, and a quick marriage to a boy in the Amish looking community is arranged. Rachel has other ideas, and steals the family pick up truck and drives to Las Vegas in search of the singer who has impregnated her via audio tape. She meets a rock band who takes her in and she learns about life outside of her sheltered commune. A few plot twists are included and the ending is rather ambiguous, but I recommend Electrick Children for a very believable Julia Garner; a very promising young actress.