"JANET PLANET" - REVIEW
I love summer movies. Big spectacle summer movies, for sure, as well quiet films that are simply set in the summertime, which remind me of my summers growing up in rural Minnesota. JANET PLANET, the intelligent, intuitive, and subtly moving feature directorial debut of Pulitzer-winning playwright Annie Baker, is the second type of summer movie.
Baker’s slice-of-life contemplates Lacy and her mother, Janet, over the course of a summer between 5th and 6th grade, in rural Western Massachusetts in the early 1990s. Janet works out of their beautiful home and makes a good living as an acupuncturist. They live among tall trees, burgeoning art communities, and fleeting friendships, old and new. The film is plotless (as summer largely is to a rural child), but these experiences mark the events of the film, which give it a structure, a rhythm and a pattern all its own.
Lacy and Janet’s relationship is one of mutual respect: they listen and talk, but there is a distance between them, and while it’s not the size of a planet, it’s starting to grow. Lacy (played with incredible presence and naturalism by newcomer Zoe Ziegler) possesses a deep understanding and wisdom born out of her quiet observation, sometimes like a little alien at the edge of the frame.
JANET: Sometimes I feel like she’s watching me.
AVI: When you’re not with her?
JANET: Yeah.
Her current observation is that adults, including her mother (Julianne Nicholson, with mysterious eyes that barely conceal a hypnotic earthiness), do not have it all together, and that working hard to rebuild a life into a good one, and maintain it, can be drawn off course with the right amount of outside influence, or desire, or feeling like you’re not making the right decisions. Some of those decisions include Lacy being both honest and dishonest, and Janet being too honest and sharing too much beyond Lacy’s maturity level… or is she? The film is comfortable in that liminal space, and suggests that having a rich inner life is beautiful, and that it’s okay to keep that to yourself until you’re ready to share it in a meaningful and loving way.
JANET: You actually seem very happy a lot of the time.
LACY: It’s hell. I don’t think it’ll last though.
JANET: I’m actually pretty unhappy, too.
JANET PLANET is all about liminal space. The space between being alone, and lonely. The space between being with people who make us feel alone, and attempting to bridge that gap anyway. The space between the desire to be yourself authentically, and the desire to be liked or loved, whether by a man—two very different suitors show up in the form of a closed-off warm body named Wayne (Will Patton) and then later, a magnetic commune leader named Avi (the always welcome Elias Koteas)—or even to be liked or loved by your own child.
Stylistically, this film is akin to the films of Kelly Reichardt. They both share of a love of nature, a languid pace, and sharp discernment about human beings. Like Reichardt’s breakthrough feature OLD JOY, JANET PLANET is beautifully filmed on 16mm Kodak stock (by cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff of GODLAND). Story and performance-wise, it reminded me very much of Reichardt’s OLD JOY, CERTAIN WOMEN and a little bit of SHOWING UP. The casting is perfect, with some recognizable character actors in principle roles who all feel like real people (the luminous Sophie Okonedo also appears in one chapter as an old friend of Janet’s). Kudos to film editor Lucian Johnston and sound designer Paul Hsu, both known for their collaborations with maximalist filmmaker Ari Aster (MIDSOMMAR, BEAU IS AFRAID), for adorning the spaces between with sounds and a pace that helps us fill in the narrative blanks.
Whereas Reichardt’s films possess a salty restlessness, JANET PLANET seems, most often, in acceptance of its restlessness. The coming and going of time, of seasons, and of people—and the occasional giddy run through a shopping center, or attending an expansive and imaginative outdoor play—are the big events of this summer movie.
To me, JANET PLANET is an exciting film about how maybe we don’t need to chase excitement. It’s about the victory of inner life and solitude and not just exploding into being for anyone or anything. It’s also about eternal beings stuck in concrete situations, and how they can make little moves to liberate themselves. I know that none of what I’ve written sounds like a summer movie, but it evokes a feeling of summer in me. If the stillness frustrates the viewer and makes them think that the movie is a little too quiet, a little too impressionistic, a little too earthbound… remember that Earth is a planet, too, and as JANET PLANET shows us, there’s a lot going on all the time, on the surface, and a lot more just beneath it.
Zach is a proud member of the Minnesota Film Critics Alliance (MNFCA). For more info about Zach, the organization, or to read other great reviews from other great Minnesota-based film critics, click here: https://mnfilmcriticalliance.wordpress.com/