Janet Planet
There’s something subtly beautiful about writer-director Annie Baker’s approach to her feature film directorial debut, “Janet Planet,” that managed to hook me. It also is something that- the longer the film goes- almost sucks all the wind out of the film. The reason it doesn’t is because of her lovely compositions with cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff, and the performances she gets from Julianne Nicholson as Janet- a single mother and acupuncturist- and Zoe Ziegler as Lacy, Janet’s daughter. Even as the film feels like it starts to hit a brick wall in the third act, we are compelled to watch because of the work these two do.
One of the great choices Baker makes at the outset of the film is to keep a character’s face relatively hidden from the camera’s view. At the outset of the film, Lacy is being taken home from a summer camp by her mother. She tells the other girls that something has happened, but we’re not sure how accurate that is by the end of the scene; it just feels as though Lacy wasn’t interested in staying. When she sees that Janet has brought her current boyfriend, Wayne, with her to pick Lacy up, Lacy is uncomfortable. But, she still goes home, and the first of three main segments of the film begins.
The choice that Baker makes is in making Wayne’s face all but invisible whenever he’s onscreen. We clearly hear Will Patton’s voice, but his full face is not really seen. It’s either away from the camera, or in shadows, but it’s not truly seen. Wayne seems like a decent guy in the Will Patton mold, but he’s also got his share of issues. When he has a migraine, and Lacy just cannot leave well enough alone, Janet has a choice to make. Baker’s film is ultimately about a mother and daughter surviving together, and the people who come into their lives for brief moments of importance, and leave suddenly. This is the work of a woman who remembers vividly what it was like being the daughter of a single mother, and being able to empathize with her.
Next up is Regina (Sophie Okonedo), a friend of Janet’s from years back who has returned to town with a commune she is a part of. She has had a parting of ways- and ideas- with Avi (Elias Koteas), the leader, and moves in with Janet and Lacy. We see how it is a good situation for the three of them until it is not, and Regina cannot help but return to Avi. Janet will find time with Avi, as well, but at that point, we start to see that it feels as though there isn’t much for her in the connection, and it all comes back to Lacy.
Baker, a playwright, is a natural with actors. All of the main characters are well observed and have a depth to them we don’t really feel until they need to reveal it. The way Baker shoots the Wayne arc is brilliant at how it almost has him as a force between Janet and Lacy in how she shoots Wayne. With Regina, things are very up close and comforting, while with Avi, some things are kept at a distance, as we are not quite sure what we should trust with him. The first two acts of the film grabbed me fully, but the story with them and Avi didn’t really gel with the other two segments of the film, and it felt as though the story lost momentum. The film ends, however, with the focus on Janet and Lacy; when “Janet Planet” is centered on them, its most emotional connections form. As it should be.
