As a parent, I know there are two things most films invariably get wrong: little kids and their mothers. Movie moms either bake cookies or smoke cigarettes, and their Good Mother/Bad Mother status is assigned accordingly. Meanwhile, their movie children spout world-weary witticisms, wreak havoc (if they're boys) and grin cherubically (if they're girls), and only have to pee if it's a comedy.
When a movie gets parents and children right, it's a reason to add it to the Netflix que. And it's one of the many reasons why this week's most exciting new film release isn't Watchmen, but an amazing little indie movie called Phoebe in Wonderland.
Starring Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Bill Pullman and Elle "not-annoying-like-Dakota" Fanning, Phoebe tells the story of a little girl (Fanning) who doesn't fit in, and isn't sure why. (She has a mental illness that I won't disclose here, although the IMDB page has a spoiler.) Other kids don't follow her logic; they don't get depressed like she does; and they don't seem to have trouble making sense of the strange rules of the adult world. Meanwhile, her mother (Huffman), a writer who put aside her career to have children, is torn between her need to feel like an independent person and her guilt that Phoebe isn't "normal." The bond between them is their shared love of Alice in Wonderland -- but even that bond is disrupted when a new drama teacher (Clarkson) encourages Phoebe to stop trying to fit in and instead explore the things that make her unique.
Although there are lots of movies about kids who are "different," few really capture the struggle of being one -- and even fewer capture the difficulty of parenting one. Huffman's character is especially noteworthy, being neither a saint nor a devil; she's a woman stressed to the breaking point, confused about how to be a person and a mother at the same time, and so in love with her children that she finds Phoebe's pain unbearable. Everything in this film is messy, from the parents' house to Phoebe's tumultuous inner world, brought to life onscreen with saturated colors and heavy doses of Alice imagery. For anyone who's had the sometimes-painful task of helping a child navigate the world, Phoebe in Wonderland is both reassuring and cathartic. And if your experiences of childhood and child-rearing have been nothing but bliss? It's still a damn good movie. Distribution is sadly limited; go here for theaters, and if it's not playing in your city, keep a lookout for the DVD. -- Gwynne Watkins
Phoebe in Wonderland trailer:
