Film Review: Electrick Children

Director: Rebecca Thomas

The debut movie of young director Rebecca Thomas is an enchanting feature which moves from the breath-taking natural beauty of Utah to the dark underside of Las Vegas behind the bright lights. We follow Rachel (the impressive Julia Garner) as she finds a mysterious tape which plays the song 'Hanging on the telephone' and she is captivated with the song having never heard anything similar. She becomes pregnant claiming that God made her pregnant through the tape despite never having had intercourse before so she sets off to find the singer on the tape which leads her away from Mormon life in Utah.


The young Mormons finally see the real world



The song on the tape is a popular one and is the original version by a band called The Nerves rather than the more popular cover by Blondie. Julia Garner is great to watch as the extremely naive Rachel who ends up spending time with a drug fuelled metal band in Vegas which prompts some funny moments. You always feel Rachel's longing to be accepted and loved by those around her which adds a vulnerability to the charm of the film. Billy Zane is also well cast as the slightly slimy but subtle pastor who works as the protagonist to Rachel's dreams.

After Rachel sneaks away from her family in Utah and ends up in Las Vegas the film stalls. It seems unsure about which direction it wants to take for the middle third of the film before building towards a slightly predictable conclusion. It just felt like 25mins of ideas thrown into the movie to make it a full length feature rather than a hour long TV drama rather than a tense build-up to the finale.

2/4 good lead and nicely shot in places but suffers from a lack of ideas before the end.