A new voice is born in Paloma Schneideman's precarious and moving coming-of-age drama Big Girls Don't Cry | Review
Set in rural New Zealand in 2006, debut writer-director Paloma Schneideman charts the journey of 14-year-old Sid Bookman as she is drawn to new experiences.
Turns out, we have all been there. Running back home as a teen after a night out with friends, where we had hoped something exciting would happen. But in truth, it is not that great. The boy you had a crush on is nothing but an idiot, and the overall experience wasn't anything good to remember. You would rather be home and not see anyone's face again for the next three days. I don't want to be treated like a kid. I want to be seen as an adult. I want to grow up fast, fast, fast, and tell everyone that I am eighteen. I guess the idea of not knowing what to make of our lives, our feelings, as teens, is part of the deal.
Big Girls Don't Cry premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
The premise
In the new coming-of-age drama Big Girls Don't Cry, which premiered at the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section at Sundance Film Festival, we follow 14-year-old Sid Bookman (Ani Palmer) over the course of one summer break in rural New Zealand as she is desperate to find more. Writer-director Paloma Schneideman wisely anchors the frame on her face as she registers how people put up different fronts in different situations, and she follows suit. She longs to be acknowledged by her father (played by Noah Taylor), and hangs around mostly with Tia (Ngataitangirua Hita).
Ani Palmer and Rain Spencer in a still from the film.
The arrival of her older sister's American friend, Freya (Rain Spencer, whom you might remember from The Summer I Turned Pretty), piques her curiosity. She is oddly charismatic and effortlessly cool, something Sid would like to be too. She would like to be her. Over the course of the next few weeks, she will go out of her way to make new girlfriends, go to house parties, which would involve horny boys and see what exactly the cool girls do.
Final thoughts
Schneideman, working here with cinematographer Maria Inés Manchego, wastes no second in establishing the circumstances in which Sid finds herself. The camera is watching Sid as she watches the world, the people, the dirt around, the instant messaging website, the valid crashouts and more. There's urgency in the way the scenes are written, as Sid quickly realises that she might as well not be interested in boys that much. But how does she explain that? Schneideman does not exert too much, thankfully, as the gaze stays reciprocative and sensitively handled. There's authenticity here, in the way Sid reacts and processes what she sees. She might not know what she wants, but she says when to say no- established in a key scene in the latter half of the story.
Big Girls Don't Cry is boosted with an incredibly raw and nuanced performance from newcomer Ani Palmer. She is just a girl who wants to be treated like one, not as a child anymore. The film rests on Palmer's face, who breathtakingly charts Sid's journey from heartbreak to anxiety and everything in between. She is the life force that propels this coming-of-age drama into unforgettable territory. Queer coming-of-age stories are so special. Where do we hide the uncertainties and precariousness, the eye-to-eye confrontations, and the intense desire to be understood? This film treats each of these little revelations with immense grace and depth. It is an incredibly assured debut, which tells us in a whisper: You'll be fine.
Santanu Das is a Senior Content Producer at Hindustan Times with over 5 years of experience, writing on films, pop culture and film festivals. He has a keen interest in writing about South Asian independent films and has covered several film festivals, including Sundance and CPH: Docx. He also brings a sharp perspective to the monthly column called The Fault in Our Stars, where he writes about a recent film/series and what stops the ‘good’ from becoming ‘great’.
A gold medalist from Banaras Hindu University, Santanu completed his postgraduate studies in English from Jadavpur University. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes-certified film critic. When not watching films or speaking to celebrities, Santanu can be found reading a book. Some of his favourite films are Aparajito, Ponyo and The Double Life of Veronique. His favourite books include The Corrections, The God of Small Things and A Room of One's Own.
Santanu continues to write passionately about films and celebrity culture. He brings a relatable, as well as critically informed, lens to entertainment and culture for a wide audience.
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