Movie Reviews

Movie Review: “Janet Planet” Centers Around A Strange Type Of Mother/Daughter Dynamic

In rural Western Massachusetts, 11-year-old Lacy spends the summer of 1991 at home, enthralled by her own imagination and the attention of her mother, Janet. As the months pass, three visitors enter their orbit, all captivated by Janet.

Janet (Julianne Nicholson) is a single mother to Lacy (Zoe Ziegler). Lacy is a lonely child on summer break in 1991. She is extremely bored but can do nothing but watch as her mother wastes her time with three different strangers.

This is an atypical coming-of-age tale, if it can even be called that. It’s less about the trials and tribulations of a kid growing up than it is about the mother’s questionable relationships.

Lacy can be quite needy about her mother. She doesn’t have any friends, and her father is out of the picture. Her mother is the only person she has in her life. Lacy, who is 11, likes to sleep with her mom and likes to hold her face while doing so. In other words, she doesn’t want to compete with others for her mom’s attention.

Janet is a hippie acupuncturist who always seems to attract oddballs and weirdos. Janet knows she’s making bad decisions about the people she is letting into her and Lacy’s life, but that doesn’t stop her from continuing to make this mistake.

The first chapter concerns Janet’s boyfriend, Wayne (Will Patton). He is a quiet, older guy who gets migraines and often has Janet care for him. He has two children who are quite distant from him: a young girl around Lacy’s age and a son in the military.

The next chapter is about Janet’s friend, Regina (Sophie Okonedo), who is trying to escape her arts commune, which is basically a cult. She has no money and is having trouble finding a job. While Janet is kind enough to open her home to her friend, she doesn’t seem to understand why she wants no contact with Avi (Elias Koteas), the leader of said ‘cult.’

Lastly, there is Avi  (Elisa Koteas). Janet seems to be endeared with some of his ideas and perhaps his leadership abilities. He has ambiguous motivations.

Zoe Ziegler is the standout in the film as Lacy. She delivers some of her lines with impeccable dryness. Her neediness about her mother comes across the screen quite clearly, but there are moments when the viewer questions whether she will resent her mother one day. Her looks and mannerisms reminded me of a young Saoirse Ronan. Nicholson is also solid, but you can’t help but be frustrated with her character.

This is a slower-paced, slice-of-life film. The pacing is too slow for me at times, but I also find Janet Planet fascinating. I’ve never seen a film with a dynamic quite like this. The characters wear their flaws on their sleeves and feel so human.

In Theaters Friday, June 28th

 

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Isabelle Anguiano

Isabelle is a film critic who was born and raised in Dallas. She graduated with a BA in Media Arts with a minor in Spanish at the University of North Texas. To Isabelle, nothing can beat going to the movie theater, it's her home away from home. And as a lover of all things TV and movies, she runs her own review blog at IsabelleReviewsMovies.com as well as contributes to IrishFilmCritic.com and ShuffleOnline.net.