Ever since her birthday, Mia has begun acting strangely. In certain moments her speech becomes more mature and she seems to be aware of her mother’s secrets. “You’re a terrible person,” she yells at Sarah during a heated argument, never clarifying what she means by that. Acting as her mother’s guilty conscience, Mia alludes to a past event Sarah doesn’t want to remember. Slowly, her life becomes a waking nightmare as her relationship with Mia starts to deteriorate.
Sarah’s friends and family aren’t helpful, in part because she doesn’t have the language to tell them what’s going on. But there’s also an edge to Sarah, one that can’t easily be explained away by fatigue. Snook plays her as if she were a child trapped in an adult’s body — defensive, easily overwhelmed and prone to tantrums. Moments between mother and daughter quickly devolve into circular arguments. And yet, LaTorre shows promise as Mia, in a precocious performance in need of a better film.
Ultimately, the film feels like a missed opportunity to explore the ways childhood never really leaves us, and how having children can force a mother to question who she really is. There are moments when it feels like Sarah doesn’t feel fit to be a mother at all. If only