The opening scene of Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth may be well-shot and wonderfully acted, but it’s also deceptive in the best ways possible. Most will find the set-up familiar, and perhaps even clichéd (a young affluent girl falls for a low-class loser boy who may or may not have a heart of gold), but it’s the immediate aftermath of this introduction where the film grandly diverges from tired predictability to something unexpected and fresh. You may think you know where Babyteeth is going to end up, and you may be right, but how it gets there is what differentiates it from the pack and makes it such a special film.
Ostensibly the story of a young girl with cancer, her parents, and the boy she loves, Babyteeth somehow manages to be all that and none of it. Led by a spectacular four-pronged assault of brilliant acting, Babyteeth wows with realistic and fully individualized characters that each offers wildly different personalities. Set against the backdrop of a loving family spiraling towards the inevitable, their interactions feel like spontaneous yet real reactions to situations that we should all hope to never be in.
When Milla (Eliza Scanlen) meets Moses (Toby Wallace) on a train platform, it’s clear the two are from different worlds. Milla – in her prep school uniform – is immediately struck by Moses and his straightforward nature – scraped up face, bad tattoos, ratty haircut, dirty clothes, and all. At first, it seems Moses is there to take advantage of Milla, but small clues suggest there’s more to his personality than his appearance lets on. When Milla takes him home to meet her distraught and overmedicated parents (Ben Mendelsohn and Essie Davis), it becomes clear that Moses might not be the only one who’s fearless and brash. What may have started as a symbiotic relationship evolves into something wholly different, yet still maintains an air of detached dependence and enabling behavior. Watching how these four manage each other’s strengths and weaknesses is something to see, right down to ending’s heartfelt release.
That Milla has cancer is slowly and deliberately revealed through the use of clever and informative title cards, which also serve to announce changes in pacing and tone. Like a dramatically peeled onion, Babyteeth allows us time to get to know each character through calculated layering that often surprises or defies expectations. As the family struggles to find a balance between the life they’ve built in their minds, the inescapable future, and what they can do to make it all bearable, the wildcard that is human nature continually interferes. Yet, terrifying as it may be, they press on with furrowed brows, exasperated desperation, and, sometimes, even pure, unbridled joy.
Babyteeth might be guilty of superfluous characters and unnecessary scenes that add very little to the story, but not nearly enough to muddy the director’s intention. Ultimately, the dynamic between the four leads – who each bring an immense yet unique amount of power to the table – is too strong for such trivialities to carry much weight. When we finally get to the end, Babyteeth has earned its heartbreak in a way that doesn’t feel manipulative or packed with overwrought histrionics. It’s very easy to feel the emotion involved because the filmmaker has taken the time to convince us to care.
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James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.