'Penelope' review: Teen girl logs off to touch grass, literally | RHZ4398 | 2024-01-27 10:08:01
Few rejoinders sting fairly the best way "touch grass" does. For many who aren't chronically on-line, the phrase primarily means you might want to sign off and go outdoors, but the deeper undercurrent is that you've got misplaced touch with the actual world and desperately have to reconnect to one thing tangible. It's "get real," minus the vintage attraction. Yet in Mel Eslyn's pilot for the YA drama Penelope, the idea of touching grass proves a wholesome jumping-off point for a modern teen's journey of self-discovery.&
Written and directed by Eslyn, who also created the undersung sci-fi gem Biosphere, Penelope centers on a 16-year-old woman (Little Fires Everywhere's Megan Stott) who abruptly decides to sign off of every part and wander into the wilderness. Nevertheless, whereas Penelope is actually trying to contact grass (and timber and bunnies), the show is bled free from the vitriol that sometimes accompanies such a stinging sentiment. As an alternative, Penelope relishes the marvel and freedom of chopping unfastened from cell phones and social media.&
Penelope is a comfortable fantasy set in the actual world.&
Though that is the story of a runaway fleeing from her family and all she knows, Penelope shouldn't be pressing with drama. There isn't any grim inciting incident that spurs its younger heroine to strike out on her personal. As an alternative, the pilot, which is premiering as part of Sundance's Episodic Pilot Showcase, begins with Penelope fortunately bopping round at a silent disco, the place headphones permit the dancers to really feel related while not disturbing the animals of the encompassing forest. Penelope is not like the others, though. Whereas they're caught up within the music and one another, she makes eye contact with a wandering wolf. Identical to that, she seems destined to depart her family's camping trip for elements unknown.&
The script from Eslyn and Mark Duplass (who co-wrote and starred in Biosphere) is scant in detail, purposefully sketching Penelope's backstory as one in every of a kid with loving mother and father who verify in together with her by way of textual content to remind her she's obtained SAT prep arising. As she's performed by Stott, Penelope does not appear burdened by tech or the pressures of her mother and father; she just appears bored by them. So, she goes on a "solo hike" that leads her to a shop to purchase tenting provides. She turns off the "share location" choice on her telephone and hops onto a practice automotive like a Mark Twain hero, giddy at her daring.&
Mother and father — or these of us who grew up in the Stranger Danger age—& may flinch at her decisions, as she hitchhikes, places her belief in randos, and goes out of her method to make it possible for her people cannot monitor her down. Much of it looks like a recipe on the best way to turn into the topic of a future 20/20 particular report, but Eslyn isn't making a harrowing drama about isolation or teen homelessness. The could-be threats of the actual world are softened by a shade palette that's breezy and alluring, and the rating, which reverberates with electronically filtered ladies's voices, looks like a synth-y siren luring Penelope ahead. The strangers she meets within the first episode present assist and heat smiles or curt recommendation, however never a cause for worry. Penelope presents us all of the dream of strolling into the nice and cozy woods and never wanting back.&
Megan Stott is pitch-perfect in Penelope's pilot episode.&
Where much of YA exhibits and films are filled with snarking Mean Girls or emotionally overwrought heroines, Penelope blooms from a place of quiet reflection. As its protagonist strikes out on her own, the show does not supply flowery speeches about her motivations. As an alternative, Stott's wide-eyed expressions communicate the marvel, curiosity, and pleasure of every step of her journey. Deceptively easy cinematography lingers on her fingers as she reaches for camping supplies in a store, all on her personal. The chances of the world are just at her fingertips! A honest grin splashes throughout her apple cheeks as she overcomes a monetary obstacle with a intelligent answer. Her physicality is alive but by no means anxious,& like a kid ready their flip at a diving board. And so, via her each motion, Stott urges us to dive in with Penelope.&
Still, as a grown-up watching the present, it is easy to slip into our considerations concerning the dangers we all know lurk outdoors Penelope's dreamy tunnel imaginative and prescient. Perhaps we marvel what was so dangerous that she needed to run away to start with. The only concrete clue the pilot provides is a text that she does not send: "Mother… Was I a cheerful kid?"&
Implied right here is that regardless of seeming to have all of it — a telephone, Apple Pay, loving mother and father who help her schooling and take her to things like silent discos — Penelope feels forlorn for some purpose she will't put her finger on. So, she follows a trail again to nature to discover who she is outdoors of social media and societal expectations. Who may she be in the woods with herself as her only firm?
We're invited to share in Penelope's awe and excitement as POV photographs permit us to vicariously expertise the joys of actually hopping onto a rushing practice, watching the world rush by. But there's still a distance between us and our eponymous heroine.&
Mel Eslyn provides Penelope her area.&
It's a thrill to observe a TV show that does not fill the necessity to spell all the things out for you. (See additionally: True Detective: Night Country). By means of her path, Eslyn provides us entry to Penelope's unstated considerations and needs, however she additionally allows the character some area for mystery. A scene where she walks into the woods and out of focus reminds us that this journey is hers, and we are witness solely to what she allows us. When she takes a photo of nature on her telephone but seems dismayed on the outcome, there is no dialogue explaining why. Later, a dialog with a touring musician (Austin Abrams) provides us some clarity.&
Penelope asks gently why he is bothering touring at tiny coffee outlets when Spotify exists. Why not "be a part of this century"? As it turns out, his expertise with on-line communities has additionally felt lacking. He explains that enjoying music stay versus distributing it by way of the Internet is the distinction between visiting a river and seeing an image of a river. The distinction is being there, a romance with the actual that's undeniably beguiling by means of the eyes of those kindred spirits.&
Based mostly on the primary episode, it is exhausting to guess where Penelope may go subsequent. Will this play like a street journey story, bringing the woman from one curious location to another? Will the main target shift away from Penelope and to her mother and father, who've been left behind to fret and marvel? Will it combine these could-be threads as a way to permit fantasy clash with nervousness? I could not say, however I can not wait to seek out out. As pilots go, Penelope is completely enchanting.&
Penelope was reviewed out of Sundance 2024.&
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