Janet Planet

Theres a difference between minimalist and vacuous, and writer-director Annie Baker doesnt seem to know the difference. The playwrights debut feature, to put it simply, is boring, pretentious, meandering, unfocused and a big, fat waste of time. Its so dull, in fact, that the film makes the works of Kelly Reichardt appear utterly fascinating. Set in 1991 in the hippie-dominated arts community of rural western Massachusetts, the film follows the story (if one could even call it that) of middle-aged acupuncturist Janet (Julianne Nicholson) as she struggles to sort out what appears to have been a wayward, meandering life. And, as this tale plays out, it faithfully sticks to that course, too, an influence thats clearly wearing off on Janets equa...

A story about a mom and daughter in an awkwardly semi-erotic relationship.

The mom starts a relationship with a mentally ill and mentally disabled white man with a speech impediment. We never get to know why or how she hooked up with him. We know she peddles woo for a living, so she hasn't met him in some kind of caretaker/patient relationship. Perhaps it's a fetish. Perhaps it was all she could get.

Well, they mow their lawn and sit around trying to say as little as possible, helped by the guy's aforementioned speech impediment. Sometimes the girl plays her Casio.

They meet up with the guy's daughter from another unexplained relationship after first standing a minute by their car, then two minutes staring in silence about thirty f...