It is a pleasure to experience a filmmaker who knows how to embrace silences. Some directors can find meaning underneath the quiet while others think filming something seemingly mundane makes their work “artsy”. Writer-director Annie Baker’s Janet Planet falls somewhere in between. For every real emotion revealed by a glance or a gesture, there are more than a few silences that serve no purpose.

Set in rural Massachusetts in the summer of 1991, Baker’s film examines the unbreakable bond between 11-year-old Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) and her mother, Janet (Julianne Nicholson). Lacy has no real friends and spends her life too close to the ups and downs of her mother’s. The soon-to-be middle schooler speaks in short sentences and rarely smiles. Ziegler is quite good in portraying the effects of a young girl spending too much time immersed in the realms of adulthood. Lacy finds her life in constant orbit around her mother’s world, even though she is only an observer and the audience’s guide.

Janet works as an earthy New Age acupuncturist, with the title of the film derived from the name of her practice. She seems to be a good mother who truly cares for her daughter, wanting to keep her safe and happy, although mom is quite aware of Lacy’s loneliness.

Janet Planet is broken into three acts, each named after the people who come into Lacy and Janet’s lives. The first, “Wayne”, concerns Janet’s live-in boyfriend (Will Patton), a laconic man who seems kind enough, but doesn’t know how to connect to Lacy. Director Baker shoots Wayne from a distance, never allowing his full face to come into frame, keeping the character a mystery until revealing he has serious problems that teeter on dangerous. This segment sets the film’s tone of long silences and telegraphs the film’s upcoming issues. Baker’s screenplay gives no insight into why a deep thinker such as Janet would fall for this closed-off (and possibly dangerous) man. That he lives with her becomes even more unbelievable. Janet’s caring nature towards Lacy is so protective and nurturing that it seems preposterous for her to allow such an unstable soul to enter their peaceful home.

The second act is titled “Regina”, after Janet’s old friend (Sophie Okonedo) whom she reunites with after seeing her in a weird, woods-set, hippie theater piece that feels pulled from Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man. As the two reconnect, Regina moves in until she is back on her feet. She reveals how the group is cult-ish and that she is breaking free of it and its leader Avi (Elias Koteas). Regina and Janet’s conversations are the most interesting and well-rounded of the film. It is here where we discover that Janet’s good career and life was made possible by an inheritance, one that Regina seems to resent.

Although their moments together give Baker’s screenplay the only scenes of real interest, the filmmaker continues to fall short of any deeper insight as to why these women are still close after all these years. Knowing Regina is fleeing a possible cult, why would Janet put their lives in possible danger by letting this woman stay? It doesn’t add up and Baker isn’t interested in writing dialogue to explain Janet’s actions.

By the time we get to the third act, “Avi”, the film loses credibility. With only a couple bottles of wine during dinner and some truly simplistic (and dull) musings on God, Avi worms his way into Janet’s life and the audience is supposed to believe that she would fall under his spell. This (mercifully) short segment is so preposterous that it sinks the few good graces that exist in the film.

What Baker gets right is portraying Lacy’s underlying melancholy. The young girl’s sadness of being unable to make friends tethers her to an unhealthy neediness when it comes to her mother. While constantly searching for friends her age, Lacy’s mom becomes an emotional lifeline.

Each moment with Lacy (the true star of the picture) gives much needed weight to such an emotionally irresponsible script. As Janet, Julianne Nicholson (an actress I’ve admired for some time) is quite good. Her scenes with Zoe Ziegler have a truth to them. Where the director cannot find the right way to express their relationship, the two actresses do the heavy lifting. Young Zeigler is a true find and the always interesting Nicholson hasn’t been this strong since her great work in Hilary Birmingham’s gem, Tully, from 2000.

Experiencing the strong work from the two leads, it becomes aggravating how the director makes everything so tedious. While I welcome deliberate pacing when used correctly, so many moments are dramatically stifled. At times, we wonder if the director has faith in her own characters.

Despite the overwhelming shortcomings in the film’s execution, there are two great moments allowed to bloom. One is a day with Wayne’s daughter, where Lacy and her new friend hit it off and run through the local mall. The two are in a state of pure joy; smiling, laughing, and running around with the youthful freedom found in the characters of the Truffaut classic, Jules et Jim.

In the film’s most moving moment, Lacy reluctantly accompanies her mom to a local square dance. As the young wallflower sits there trying to be annoyed, Lacy is overcome with the joy of watching a happy Janet dance with many people. If the film were filled with more of these infectious emotions, this could have been something special.

As a whole, the film feels more like a writer’s workshop exercise than a full-bodied work. One of the rare stumbles from A24, Janet Planet is a film too aloof and airy to achieve any real connection with its audience. 

Janet Planet

Written & Directed by Annie Baker

Starring Julianne Nicholson, Zoe Ziegler, Will Patton, Sophie Okonedo, Elias Koteas

PG-13, 113 Minutes, A24, BBC Film, Present Company