Rating: B+
I’ve found myself growing weary of the coming of age story in recent years. There’s been a sense of cookie cutter success coming off of the films that have defined the genre for much of the last decade, even with the artistic merits of the auteur approach that has become popular. For the most part, the stories all feel too similar to make an impact. The tropes are, by now, just too familiar and the characters are all so alike.
Director Shannon Murphy, however, has proven me wrong. With Babyteeth, her first feature film, she and screenwriter Rita Kalnejais have shown that there is still room within the rigid framework of the genre to allow for originality, artistry, and impact. The two have crafted a film of stunning emotional depth and creativity, bringing some much needed freshness to the genre.
Oddly, they do so by sticking largely to the formula. Babyteeth still features a misunderstood lead character, Milla (Eliza Scanlen), trying to understand her place in the world. Here, however, the need is more urgent and palpable. Young Milla, approaching the end of her adolescence, is also approaching the end of her life. Adding this to the familiar framework of the genre bolsters the intent of Babyteeth, allowing Murphy to create a film that serves as a celebration of living life to the fullest, and enjoying every moment that you can.
For us, Milla’s story begins when she meets Moses (Toby Wallace), a young, homeless drug dealer and hustler just trying to survive to the next day as best he can. To the dismay of Milla’s parents, Henry (Ben Mendelsohn) and Anna (Essie Davis), the young girl pursues a relationship with the burgeoning career criminal. Hoping to taste as much of life as she can, Milla begins to embrace all sides of herself, good and bad, learning to live as much as possible.
Scanlen, still fresh off her success as Beth March in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, delivers an absolutely rapturous performance as Milla. Every scene she’s in—which is most of them—is packed with an amazing depth of emotional subtext as she portrays the nuanced emotions of a young woman dying. There’s an undeniable joie de vivre to Milla’s desires and feelings, one that’s punctuated and underlined by her knowledge that these will be her last few months.
This, of course, ripples throughout her family and friend group, with everyone else trying their best to come to grips with the inevitable. How do you come to grips with the final desires of a young woman dying? At what point do you realize that it’s pointless to control someone who is facing something much deeper than you, their parent, can possibly comprehend?
Far from delving into rote nihilism, however, Murphy and Kalnejais use Milla’s rebellion as a celebration of all that is beautiful and wonderful about life. The good and bad, the joy and pain, the rapture and the damned. Murphy finds a stunning intimacy in the script and creates an artistic vision of life that is beautifully magnetic and wondrous. Even with the darker corners of Milla’s exploration, we’re left with the sense that life is a game of balance, with all experiences swirling to create the beauty of human experience.
Murphy, who until now has been known for her work in television, has revealed herself to be a remarkable new cinematic voice and Babyteeth is a remarkable new twist on the coming of age genre. It is as stunning and beautiful a twist on the formula as has been done in recent years. Far from resting on the laurels of the framework, Babyteeth brings new life and new ideas and adding its deserving name to the canon of great coming of age narratives.
Babyteeth is now available on demand.
