“Little Joe”– Movie Review

This week at Film at Lincoln Center, there was a sneak preview of the new science fiction drama, “Little Joe”, directed and co-written by Jessica Hausner.

Synopsis

When a scientist develops a new plant that makes people happy, what will happen once the plant tries to manipulate humans?

Story

Alice (Emily Beecham) is one of a team of scientists working on developing a new and unusual type of plant:  one that will make its owner happy.  The catch is that the plant must be cared for as if it were a child – it needs to be touched and spoken to and kept very warm under a bright lamp.  They are anxious about its development because it is believed that once this plant is introduced to the market, it will become very popular and make a tremendous amount of money.  But working on this plant has come at a cost:  Alice’s relationship with her teenage son, Joe (Kit Connor).  

Meanwhile, Alice is being romantically pursued by her colleague Chris (Ben Whishaw), who has been working closely with her on this project.  But between her dedication to her job and her concerns over her son, Alice finds Chris to be nothing more than an unnecessary distraction.  Feeling increasingly distant from his mother, Joe starts making it known to Alice that he might be better off living with his father, who lives far away in the woods.  Alice doesn’t want to lose her son, but at the same time, she is also rather serious about her career. 

In an effort to make things better with Joe, Alice brings home one of the plants as a gift for her son.  To show her affection for him, she decides to name the plant Little Joe; Alice instructs Joe how best to care for the plant so that it will continue to grow and bloom.  But the more time Little Joe spends in the house, the more it seems to take control:  it starts to emit an unusual type of pollen which Joe inhales, resulting in a distinct personality change.  When Alice notices this, her immediate reaction is to rescue her son.  But if she does, will this also wind up causing her career to stall? 

Review

While watching “Little Joe”, one can be forgiven for thinking that you’ve seen this movie before – specifically, “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers”.  It’s certainly a different take on the concept and between the acting, settings and music, it most definitely sets an undeniably spooky tone.  Where it fails to grab the viewer, however, is in its seemingly emotional detachment.  Clearly, Alice is the protagonist in this story, but due to her dispassionate manner, it’s something of a challenge for the audience to get behind her.  The character almost appears to be heavily sedated from the very beginning. 

This is what makes Emily Beecham’s winning Best Actress at Cannes all the more baffling.  One theory could be that it was the actress’ choice to be more subdued because she was in fact a scientist.  That would be understandable but this makes the character less accessible than she would normally be if she exuded more warmth, more humanity.  While we see Alice change somewhat once she’s spent more time around the plant, the change is so subtle that it’s almost imperceptible.  Maybe that’s the point:  that people change over time, but only in the most nuanced ways.  Still, Alice is not always the easiest character for whom to root.     

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Jessica Hausner and actress Emily Beecham.  Hausner said that the inspiration for the story came from what she refers to as “The Frankenstein Myth” – that is to say, the creation that frees itself from its creator.  In this case, she sees the plant as the monster where Alice is the mother that is the creator of the child, which will eventually mature and free itself; neither the plant nor the child can be controlled.  The psychological component for Alice is that she’s questioning whether or not she’s a good mother.