“Don’t Give Up”, “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl”, “The Fault in the Stars”, “Midnight Sun”, “Now is the Time”. There are many films based on the story of a seriously ill girl who meets love and (or) the meaning of life. Youth, fragility, suffering, hope, the drama of growing up… The painting “Milk Teeth” (at the box office from August 13) is one of them, and at the same time it does not look like them at all.
At the bottom of a glass of water, leaving behind rare bubbles, a small, weak-willed fish sinks a tooth. Baby tooth. The spectacle is ordinary, though not very pleasant. This is not customary to show, it is indecent to talk about it. It seems to be indecent to shoot another picture about a sick girl who fell in love with a “problem” young man.
And about how a purely selfish interest (he is on morphine, her father is a psychiatrist, and she herself is prescribed tons of pills) turns into a feeling – awkward, awkward, but so sincere.
About how the worst nightmare of parents: a drug addict, and besides, much older than a gentle domestic violinist girl – becomes an incentive for their child to make the last desperate leap, to cling to an elusive life. The fact that each parent copes with adversity in their own way and can seek solace in someone else.
The fact that it is almost impossible not to reproach yourself, not to blame for the lost time. Something that could be given to a child instead of completely surrendering to the vocation. About how different the first tender feeling is from what happens between people years later: quarrels over water pressure in the shower, quick sex not even between sandwiches, but during meals.
All this is not new, but it is told so subtly and heartbreakingly beautiful that the plot, broken into scenes (book chapters), ceases to be of paramount importance. It is important to be in the moment, to feel the Australian sun on your skin, to properly consider a girl in a wig and a young man with a biblical name, every eyelash, every pore on the skin, and really feel that everything is finite. Sooner or later you will have to say goodbye to everything in the world, even with a milk tooth that has lasted longer than the due date.
3 reasons to watch the movie “Baby Teeth”
- Acting: Equally good and convincing are Eliza Scanlen (Little Women, Sharp Objects), Toby Wallace (Venice Film Festival Award for Best Young Actor), and Ben Mendelsohn (Talos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) who plays the girl’s father.
- Directing: The film is the feature debut of Shannon Murphy, who directed selected episodes of Killing Eve.
- Music – Soundtrack Stars Award at the Venice Film Festival.