Runaway indie success, Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene, highlighted the paranoia that can occur once one re-enters the ‘real’ world after being part of a cult. The story sounded so distant from the world that you and I know that it sounded fairytale like, just without the happy ending and yet these occurrences happen thoughout the world. In an incredibly unique role, Elizabeth Olsen shone as Martha, trying to portray such an intense sense of paranoia that it became hard to function in everyday activities. What Martha… gave was an acceptance to explore those who live different lives to that of the ‘norm’. But this review isn’t about Martha… this is about a very similar film, and yet extremely different. More shattering and more explanatory about the depth of the human condition.
This is where Electrick Children comes in. The director, Rebecca Thomas took a break from studying film at Brigham Young University to serve in a Mormon mission in Japan. After this, she went on to pursue her MFA at Columbia University. Here is born, Electrick Children, her stunning debut feature film starring Julia Garner (previously seen in Martha…) in a haunting performance as Rachel, the girl who is brought up on a Mormon mission and who mysteriously becomes pregnant one day after she stumbles upon a forbidden cassette player and listens to the rock song, “Don’t Leave Me Hanging On The Telephone” by The Nerves.
The film was chosen for the Official Selection at the Berlin Film Festival and the SXSW Film Festival, where it garnered international praise and acclaim, and rightly so!
From the initial premise, many could think this is a mystery film, a film about abuse, a film about the mormon community, but Electrick Children is so much more. 
The film is a beautifully shot coming of age film, with stunning Nevada landscapes, which looks at the effect of the human condition and the ways in which we really communicate with each other. Without delving too deeply into the film itself, one is initially introduced to the mormon community and it’s traditions and hierarchies (men above women etc) and many of the same questions are asked as other films which look specifically at cultures (A Separation for example), but then the film goes one step further by placing emphasis on this fifteen year old girl. She listens to this aged rock song and a whole new world is opened up to her, she becomes encapsulated by the beat, the timbre, the words, the rhythms and the world.
Visually the film tries to represent this etherial quality that Rachel feels in the music, with soft and dim lighting constantly surrounding the characters. It’s as if they know there is something out there waiting for them but they are just a little too far to see clearly, but Rachel has had a taste and now wants to know what is out there.
Three months later, she finds out that she is pregnant and tells her mother (portrayed by the stunning Cynthia Watros) who panics. The resolution is that she should partake in an arranged marriage, which Rachel has no interest in. Her mother worries that she was abused by her stern brother, Mr Will (played by Liam Aiken) and yet when Rachel leaves for Las Vegas to find the voice on the tape, her brother follows after her because he is concerned for her.
Whilst in Vegas, they meet a band and one of the members, Clyde becomes infatuated with this odd girl who looks like something out of the 1950s. Their relationship is never fully explored within the film, but one almost allows that because for a debut this goes just beneath the surface, a more established filmmaker would have carried on digging, but this was a big step for Thomas. Rory Culkin portrays Clyde and continues to astound me, his facial features and his overall look remind me of his brother and yet he remains a much more astute actor with (apparently) more to give. (Maybe it’s the return of the younger sibling? Culkin, Olsen, Fanning?)
The film continues with it’s exploration of it’s (really) children characters and yet you forget Rachel is only fifteen- she walks around with the weight of the world on her shoulders and it is quite clear that although she is happy to follow the rules set down on her within her community, she would also take the opportunity to disobey and go out into the world and learn for herself. She doesn’t rely on anyone else (as illustrated in a brilliant sequence where she hijacks the van and drives away) and yet she is simply looking for that missing piece within her.
I won’t tell you anymore of the story, because it suddenly goes somewhere I wasn’t expecting and yet it worked perfectly. The only disadvantage to this film was a slight oversight of the middle section. Although the film is an indie feature (and for all extents and purposes, an art house film), much of what is considered art house, feels a little taken for granted in this film. I feel Thomas assumes the audience will accept vast sections of sparse dialogue and huge landscapes for little reason without any real justification within the film text. Take a certain 20 minutes out, and this film would have been close to perfect (especially for a debut!).
The verisimilitude that we are presented within Electrick Children is an interesting one (otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this review). The reality in this world is different to our own, it’s one where mormonism is the main state and anything outside that world is deemed as the alternative. It’s a world without rock music, without equality and without the liberal sense of morality that many like to think they have today. Most interestingly, the use of rock music seems to illicit a sense of anarchy and rebellion (which traditionally rock music represented) and within the small world of our characters, this one song really does turn their worlds upside down.
Visually, as I mentioned before, the film is stunning with wide shots of large, flowing landscapes and close ups of our characters faces which indicates a sense of knowing and intimacy with them, that which one would only really get if you knew someone really well. The acting is something quite brilliant and certainly standout in the piece, especially by the young Garner, who manages to succeed to portraying a beautiful, confused girl.
Finally, we are never quite resolved on the issue of the pregnancy. Was she raped by her brother, was it an immaculate conception or something else entirely. After the first part of the film, the pregnancy takes the back seat and something so much more beautiful is shown to a very lucky audience.
