FilmSnobReviews

Title: Carrie Pilby
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Director: Susan Johnson
Starring: Bel Powley, Nathan Lane, Gabriel Byrne
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

What It Is: Carrie Pilby (Powley) is a genius of a girl who graduated Harvard at 18. What she has in brains she lacks in…social finesse. Now that she’s 18 her therapist Dr. Petrov (Lane) wants her to get out and experience more of life, perhaps even fall in love or have some sort of happiness. Meanwhile, she’s dealing with the fact that her widower father is perhaps getting married, and some stuff from her past she’s less than happy about.

What We Think: Bel Powley is exceptional again! After starring in one of my Top Ten Films of 2016 with Diary of a Teenage Girl she again plays a sort of similarly naive girl trying to explore her universe. I liked a lot of what the movie was doing but so much of Carrie is a bit insufferable. Only Powley’s performance steers this thing properly. Susan Johnson, who directs makes her debut following a stint as a producer. She understands independent cinema as two great pieces of indie cinema Mean Creek and God Help the Girl she produced. It’s evident here she can get the most out of the least and I look forward to her next step behind the camera.

Our Grade: B, I liked it, didn’t love it! I’m such a sucker for romantic films and the tenderness and earnestness of Carrie character mixed with the genuine nature of it had me feeling the love. It’s New York in the winter setting is a site and I loved that. Carrie is initially pretty much an entitled brat, you grow with her and that helps. Some of the script is a bit too easy. It doesn’t take chances with its dialogue which I think would’ve been a bit awesome!