"I don't have any friends" "Why?" "I don't know, it's a complete mystery to me" A good atmospheric film with great performances especially from Julianne Nicholson and Zoe Ziegler.

The 2024-2025 film awards season has arrived and one of the titles that has started to be heard is Janet Planet, the first feature film by Annie Baker, who was awarded by critics in Boston and New York as best debut film. In this film we see the life of an eleven-year-old girl who lives with her mother Janet, an acupuncturist, in a kind of constant struggle for her attention. The introverted girl tries to connect more with her mother to counteract her lack of friends, but her mother's attention is constantly monopolized by other people who are fascinated with Janet: her partner, her friend, her suitor. Zoe Zigler is the one who plays the girl Lacy, this being her first film work, and she does it well, showing herself as this little girl who is eager for love, but unable to demand it. And honestly, that's the only thing that struck me as lucky about the film. I found the script unattractive, the editing abrupt, and the rest of the elements unremarkable, maybe I just rescue some frames that turned out beautiful.

I had so much expectations because of the praise it received. It's one of those movies with so little plot and dialogue that you can watch while on your phone and still not miss anything.

Endearing and delicate, Janet Planet manages to scope the complexities of adult life and relationships through the lens of an oddball 11 year old girl, Lacy. Experiencing pockets of off hand conversations between these orbiting adults and punctuated by nostalgic childhood summer moments, Janet Planet effectively limits the viewer to the immature understanding of Lacy and successfully sells its funny, warm, albeit depressing vision of growing up with an insecure single mother to great effect. The molasses pace aids the dreamy, reminiscent style but will be a massive filter for many looking for a more traditional, punchy coming of age flick. I didn't personally connect with it, but misfits and oddballs will surely see much of themselves in Lacy and her over reliant relationship with her mother. Aesthetically fantastic though, truly some of the best shots and framing I've seen for a long time.