A maladjusted soon-to-be-middle-schooler and her codependent acupuncturist mother navigate summer break and a string of bad relationships in Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Annie Baker’s studious but tedious drama Janet Planet. Janet and Lacy’s intertwined existence rests at the intersection of intimacy and monotony, as the duo swing between piano lessons, summer camp, local theater, picnics, and barn dances, making for a drily comic but often snooze-inducing portrait of the unique balance that exists between mother and daughter. There are worthwhile pockets and Julianne Nicholson flashes raw tenderness as the freewheeling and woe-begotten Janet but Baker’s film – thatched onto a meager script – is ultimately too impressionistic, rambling, and unfocused to leave much of an impression. (C)
[READ MORE: All of our coverage of the Seattle International Film Festival ’24.]
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By: Matt Oakes
Started blogging about film in college when the university paper wouldn’t have him. Dislikes your consensus film Twitter favorites. Devotee of horror movies that make him die a little inside. Catches films at festivals when he can. Proud SFCS and OFCS member and Tomatometer-approved critic. Editor-in-chief of Silver Screen Riot.
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