PARK CITY
So... Now that I'm once again in a warm theater I can throw a little love out for Phoebe In Wonderland. Premiering at this year's fest, the film's story revolves around a nine year-old girl with an active imagination, played by Elle Fanning (sister to Dakota). She's one of these kids who's a bit special, because it's sometimes difficult for her to separate fantasy from reality. This alone creates problems for Phoebe both at home and at school, but things are made even worse by the fact that she's started acting out by spitting on other students and being somewhat verbally abusive, though she claims it's beyond her control. Phoebe manages to find a safe and supportive place in the school's play, Alice In Wonderland, where she's really able to grow and perhaps find herself.
At the expense of sounding cliché, this film is really about the beauty of the imagination and the struggle of family and of growing up. It's not sappy though, this is really a solid film with a good character arc, lots of good conflict and an ending that doesn't feel like studio bullshit. The performances from Elle, Bill Pullman, Felicity Huffman and Patricia Clarkson are all solid and well fleshed out. All in all it's a really good film from first-time feature director Daniel Barnz who made Variety's "10 directors to watch" list for 2008.
Next film's about to start. Gotta run.
No comments:
Post a Comment