★★★☆☆
Religion in all it’s broad and baffling scope has long had a relationship with cinema. From the countless films that focus on the varying lives lived under the umbrella of belief right through to the acceptance speeches at a Hollywood award show, God in one shape or form is never far from the silver screen. However it is the faiths that are cut off in one way or another from modern society that fascinate most. We’ll have to wait for Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master for a thinly-veiled look at Scientology but the Amish and Plymouth Brethren communities have starred in leading roles over the years. We can add to that list Mormonism as Rebecca Thomas’ Electrick Children attempts to take the Indie scene to an altogether holier place.
We are deep in Utah, a Mormon commune playing host to fundamentalist ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ lead by evangelical parents Gay (Cynthia Watros) and Paul (looking suspiciously like Billy Zane). Our gateway into this cut-off world is Rachel (Julia Garner), a 15 year old daughter who we meet during a ritual interview on her birthday. Not to be perturbed by Billy Zane’s warnings about its evil potential in the wrong hands, her curious mind leads her to investigate the purpose of the mystical apparatus recording her answers. The keeper of the cassette recorder is Will (Liam Aiken), a fellow brother only slightly older than Rachel whose strict obedience does little to deter Rachel’s interest. Before long she’s breaking in to discover the true potential of this sound-making contraption, coming across a mysterious blue cassette and soon cavorting around the barn with only the sounds of Hanging on the Telephone for company as she presses the exotic, angelic sounds to her face.
This innocent audio frolic comes with serious consequences. Rachel soon falls pregnant and, despite the groups’ accusations and punishment thrust upon Will, is convinced she has received the gift of life through the Lord himself, appearing in the form of a Blondie cover and impregnating the modern day Virgin Mary. Sentenced to a speedy marriage she comes to conclude that the role of a mother cannot be resolved without a father.
It is this epiphany that, once struck, doesn’t escape Rachel who decides to embark on a pilgrimage to find the only possible father of her immaculately conceived child – the singer on that cassette. She flees, silently assisted by her mother and leaving the commune lifestyle in the dust of her truck. Unknown to her, she has a passenger –Will who’s sleep in the back of the truck she disrupted. They drive until they stop and when they stop it’s the bright lights of Las Vegas, or the lights of the Lord as bible quoting Rachel’s narration would have it.
And so our holy heroes arrive in the city of sin where vices are celebrated and temptation looms large. The temptation for director Thomas is to fall back on a riotous fish out of water romp through the shiniest place on Earth. Fortunately it’s one that she manages to largely avoid with understandable concessions being made.
God fearing Rachel and Will are introduced to today’s youth and like a fearful Daily Mail journalist initially it doesn’t go well, “Clyde is perhaps the spawn of Satan.” records Rachel on her biblical cassette journal. These are the slacker teens of America’s generation Y and they serve as the duos guides to a life outside of the commune. These initially one dimensional characters are all swears (“say fuckers”), drugs (“do you want to get loaded?”) and parties but despite their alien ways Rachel’s conviction that their band may be behind that tape forces her to stay. This allows us more time with these characters as we gain a sense of their routine and, without being incredibly fleshed-out, their roles become far less ‘by-numbers’ duuuuuudes. Will whose looks – a cross between a young Rolling Stone and a country bumpkin – lend themselves well to a convincing metamorphosis from Mormon farmhand to skateboarding, pill popping modern teen and there’s credit too for Rory Culkin giving a stock character into a human touch.
The cinematography is equally impressive in both the commune and city environments with the contrast between the two highlighted without jarring.
And that’s what’s puzzling about this film. There is little to criticise in the details and yet it’s hard to guess what it’s trying to say. The religious element adds something to the bulging US indie scene but it has the air of a film with a message but if there is one it doesn’t so much as get lost in among the storylines and subplots as fail to materialise in the first place. The original frame of Immaculate Conception is too muddled to support the weight of everything else. There are Biblical parallels that feel slightly shoehorned in as Culkin’s Clyde becomes a Joseph like figure and at times the various skating and street walk scenes can look at best like a music video and at worse like postcards from a programme called How I Spent My Slacker Summer. It’s a flawed but impressive debut from Thomas whose star turn was to give the first of what will surely be many a lead role to Julia Garner. The childlike naivety and innocence she displays come off as incredibly watchable and endearing and portrayed with great subtlety by the young American. In her hands Rachel’s adjustment to her new environment is convincing and restrained and forces us to engage with this imperfect but worthwhile feature.
Matthew Walsh
Rating:15UK Release Date: 13th July 2012
Directed by: Rebecca Thomas
Cast: Julia Garner, Rory Culkin, Liam Aiken, Billy Zane
ELECTRICK CHILDREN Official UK Trailer Published via LongTail.tv
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