Direction: Jamie Dack
Country: USA
The first feature from writer-director Jamie Dack, an uncomfortable coming-of-age drama cutely called Palm Trees and Power Lines, takes its time to compellingly tell the story of a 17-year-old girl who begins a treacherous relationship with a man twice her age. The script, co-written with Audrey Findlay, is an expansion of Dack’s 2018 short film of the same name.
Lea (Lily McInerny), 17, can’t really open up to her distant single mother (Gretchen Mol), spending the summertime hanging out with friends of her age. But not even occasional sex can pull her out of boredom. This is until, she meets Tom (Jonathan Tucker), a 34-year-old man who acts shifty but seems to understand her problems. What are the real intentions of this stranger?
The story attains a sinister emotional vortex after Dack, never heavy-handed in her observations, portrays the blithe excitement of a rose-colored romantic discovery. There are two distinct halves: a more casual one that defines the characters and their milieus, and a tenser, grim last fraction that leads to a sad conclusion. The rawest scenes are stretched out with no music score, reaching a serious level of verisimilitude.
The well-acted Palm Trees and Power Lines is not perfect but frankly impressive. It succeeds in plunging us into the psyche of a teenager, and does it with captivating introspection. Being a movie of an invisible violence and loneliness, it not only packs a punch, but made me actively want to punch the movie characters, whether for their startling naivety or creepy perversion.
