In rural Western Massachusetts, 11-year-old Lacy spends the summer of 1991 at home, enthralled by her own imagination and the attention of her mother, Janet. As the months pass, three visitors enter their orbit, all captivated by Janet and her spellbinding nature. In her solitary moments, Lacy inhabits an inner world so extraordinarily detailed that it begins to seep into the outside world. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker captures a child’s experience of time passing, and the ineffability of a daughter falling out of love with her mother, in this singularly sublime film debut.
Runtime: 113m • PG-13
PRAISE FOR JANET PLANET
Official Selection:
Telluride Film Festival
New York Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival
Sun Valley Film Festival
Wisconsin Film Festival
“By far one of the best films of this summer, Janet Planet is a small miracle of a movie, carefully constructed with sensitive, specific detail.” -Newport This Week
“Janet Planet is very charming, very wise, very aware of its quirks and how to avoid playing into them to the point of disbelief from how actual people interact with each other.” -USA Today
“It’s the kind of minimalist, yet emotionally rich memory piece that’s so quietly attuned to people, place and the passing of time that, ironically, it makes you want to shout hosannahs from a mountaintop until you’re hoarse.” -Rolling Stone
“This small, anxious being follows you even after the screen goes dark. She’s not just tugging at Janet. She’s tugging at us.” -TIME
“More attuned to the language of cinema than many playwrights would be, her movie is softly spoken and often absurdly funny, but also deceptively un-cosy.” -Financial Times
