Sharply funny 'Janet Planet' perfectly captures the feel of a long, hot summer

Much of the story takes place in a rustic house in woodsy Western Massachusetts; by day, sunlight streams in through enormous windows, and at night, chirping crickets flood the soundtrack. The celebrated playwright Annie Baker, here writing and directing her first film, has uncanny powers of observation and a talent for evoking time and place. She also has two memorable lead characters and a sharply funny and moving story to tell.

Baker isn’t one to hurry her characters along. Her plays — the best known of which is her Pulitzer-winning 2013 drama,— have been justly praised for bringing a new kind of naturalism to the stage, especially in the way the actors retain the stammers and silences of normal conversation.

In the second chapter we meet Regina, played by a wonderful Sophie Okonedo, a free-spirited drifter who comes to stay with Janet and Lacy after leaving a local hippie commune — basically a cult, though everyone is careful not to use that word. Regina initially brings a breath of fresh air into the house, though she proves insensitive and tactless, especially around Janet, and soon overstays her welcome.

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Sharply funny 'Janet Planet' perfectly captures the feel of a long, hot summerWriting and directing her first film, playwright Annie Baker exhibits uncanny powers of observation. Not much happens in this mother-daughter movie, but something momentous seems to have taken place.
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Annie Baker’s “Janet Planet” Is an Exquisitely Moving Film DébutJustin Chang reviews “Janet Planet,” the playwright Annie Baker’s début film, starring Julianne Nicholson, Zoe Ziegler, Elias Koteas, Will Patton, and Sophie Okonedo.
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