Thumbsucker

Initially, I wanted to see Thumbsucker in theaters because I read an interview in LA Weekly wherein writer/director Mike Mills bashed the hell out of Zach Braff's Garden State. My theory was...if Mills hated Braff's film, and I hated Braff's film, maybe I'd love Mills' film! Kind of a cinematic syllogism.

And it kind of works. I wouldn't say I love Mills' film. It has some pretty clear flaws, most critically a lack of focus. The story of high school senior Justin (Lou Pucci) coming to terms with his family and himself kind of dances around a story instead of just telling one. Like it's attention-deficient, hyperactive main character, Thumbsucker zips around from tangent to tangent with admirable enthusiasm and deadpan charm, but has a hard time building up any narrative momentum. It starts off in a million different directions but doesn't ever actually arrive anywhere.

Mills, to his credit, has succeeded in making a film that's superficially like Garden State that nonetheless falls into none of the pitfalls that hopelessly marr Braff's preening, self-congratulatory ode to his and Natalie Portman's adoreableness. Where that film desperately strained for witty banter, Thumbsucker dashes busily between amusing, well-observed moments with hardly any time to stop and pander.



For reasons only half-glimpsed at the film's opening, Justin is a sullen adolescent. He has trouble focusing on anything in school other than the attractive girl on his debate team (Kelli Garner). His stern, world-weary father (Vincent D'Onofrio) rides him constantly for lacking motivation, and for compulsively sucking his thumb. And any time he needs to speak in front of people, he's paralyzed with fear.

Though he doesn't realize it, through the course of "curing" these ailments, Justin will come to terms with his place in the world. From experimental hypnosis applied by a wacky new age orthodontist (a bizarre, supporting role for Keanu Reeves) to Ritalin to copping a minor weed habit, each step taken by Justin in battling his personal demons reveals another buried truth lurking behind his everyday life. What works best about Mills' script is how it condenses a variety of small coming-of-age stories within this one simple framework.

So we see Justin discover his formidable abilities with language and persuasion as he begins winning debate tournaments, and even outsmarting his eager-to-please debate coach (Vince Vaughn, in another hilarious performance). We follow him as he discovers the truth about his parents, that these are weak and confused people who don't neccessarily know what's best for him all the time, even if they pretend to.

Mills' film doesn't lack for poignant moments, but there are some pretty major gaps in the storytelling along the way. The soundtrack is composed of original songs performed by Texas mega-group The Polyphonic Spree, and as with all their music, it is loud, bombastic, psychedelic, and pretty much completely unneccessary. These songs, popping up mainly at the film's beginning and end, don't really take you out of the action so much, though they are a bit overripe.

For most of the film, we hear Elliott Smith songs on the soundtrack, and this is a staggeringly poor choice. The songs often don't line up with the action on a purely aesthetic level (such as scenes where people walk fast to a droning, slow Smith song), but even worse, the emotions being expressed by Smith on the soundtrack just carry much more weight than what's going on in the film.

Not that Thumbsucker doesn't muster up any pathos. Great work from the talented ensemble and a subtle, deft touch by Mills ensure that many of the film's big scenes connect. (And the shimmering cinematography by Joaquín Baca-Asay lends the entire film the dim glow of a half-forgotten memory).

But sometimes, you're hearing these really heavy Elliott Smith songs during minor, inconsequential montages in the film. It just feels inappropriate, like Mills is trying to cheat his way to transcendence by including these beautiful songs by a beloved dead guy.

There are a few too many of these montages, and a lot of other shortcuts Mills employs to fit in so many relationships and set-ups in a 90 minute film. Thumbsucker is based on a novel by Walter Kirn which I have not read, and I'm wondering if the book manages to thread together all the various strands by the closing pages. Though the film benefits from a suitably wide-eyed, expressive performance from relative newcomer Lou Pucci, I suspect the book might have more coherence and insight.

Though it ostensibly wraps up all the storylines - we find out if Justin's mom is, in fact, having an affair with the drug-addicted cop show star (Benjamin Bratt in a funny cameo), and get a nice little monologue from Keanu's oddball dental professional about the path to happiness in life - Thumbsucker doesn't really unify Justin's experiences into a coherent thought about growing up. It's just kind of a slice-of-life, a brief but eventful period of growth in the life of an intelligent, eccentric and introverted kid. Like Rushmore with buried sexual panic, repressed guilt and social anxiety disorder.