Summary
A theatre director's latest project takes on a life of its own when her young star takes her performance too seriously.
A theatre director's latest project takes on a life of its own when her young star takes her performance too seriously.
In this US indie offering, a teenage girl with previous mental health issues finds an empowering new pathway in the world of improv theatre, but has to navigate between an over-protective mum and a director with her own agenda. The setting will understandably seem a mite pretentious to some, but it's a good fit for the story of a youthful protagonist seeking her place in the world, played with a knockout blend of charisma and vulnerability by star-in-the-making Helena Howard. With this third feature, director Josephine Decker also puts herself down as a name to watch, since she finds a fresh take on film language to place us inside Howard's mentally fragile perspective. It takes time to adjust to the film's wavelength, but patience really pays off in a finale which brings drama, dance and music together to quite exhilarating effect. Kudos, too, for fine performances from anxious parent Miranda July and an outstanding Molly Parker as the theatre director with questionable motives in mining mental health issues for the sake of art. An invigorating original.
role | name |
---|---|
Evangeline | Molly Parker |
Regina | Miranda July |
Madeline | Helena Howard |
George | Curtiss Cook |
Nurse KK | Okwui Okpokwasili |
role | name |
---|---|
Director | Josephine Decker |