Janet Planet tells the story of 11 year old Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) during one long summer in 1991. Her mother, Janet (Julianne Nicholson), is the planet around which Lacy orbits as she watches people cycle in and out of their lives in this quiet film.
Janet Planet has one of my favorite actors in the lead role – Julianne Nicholson in all her freckled glory. It was written and directed by Annie Baker. It has excellent ratings. I should have loved it.
I didn’t love it. I found it slow and tedious. The dialog was sparse. Long scenes of Lacy marching down the road to a piano lesson or making tiny clay plates of food for the imaginary family she kept in a curtained box in her bedroom were not exactly action packed.
The story is told from Lacy’s point of view. She’s fascinated by the amount of hair on mom’s live-in boyfriend Wayne (Will Patton). She can’t tell when people like her or if she can make friends. When Wayne is gone Regina (Sophie Okonedo), an old friend of her mom’s they see at a weird dance performance, moves in with them.
Regina was apparently in a cult, which Janet doesn’t explain very well to Lacy. When the leader of the cult, Avi (Elias Koteas), comes around Janet thinks he’s really nice. He wants Regina back. He may even want Janet.
Lacy wants to wrest her mom away from these interlopers and have her all to herself. She’s not entirely successful in this effort. Middle school looms at the end of summer and Lacy is not happy about that prospect.
I regret that I was unable to make myself appreciate the quiet and tender relationship in this film as much as I probably should have. If you decide to watch it, I hope your reaction is more favorable. It’s streaming on Max.
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I loved the Western Massachusetts nature that’s a character in this piece. I also really liked the moments Lacy played with her imaginary family behind the curtain. I loved her progression at piano lessons. I guess I just really liked being reminded how to be and survive quietly.
That was a good take away from this film. Thanks for the comment.