Palm Trees and Power Lines

Grade: B

I wonder what’s more unsettling: hearing a real-life story about a grown man grooming a teenage girl for “services,” or watching a movie about it? I just did the latter, with Palm Trees and Power Lines, in select theaters now. I am sure it was a safe set, and the actors obviously consented to play these characters, but it’s still plenty creepy. The movie’s largest downfall also works in its favor. There is never any shouting or yelling, and the dialogue slogs along at a snail’s pace. Think of a Harold Pinter play. Lots of pauses. However, this is what drew me in and kept me hanging on every word, or potential word, if they ever got around to saying the next word.

Writer/director Jamie Dack makes her feature film directorial debut here, with a remake of her 15 minute short film of the same name, released in 2018. Lea (Lily McInerny, also in her feature debut) is a 17-year-old rising senior in high school, killing time during the summer in her generic Southern California suburb. She lives with her mother (Gretchen Mol), who has so many male visitors, Lea can’t keep track of names or whether her mom is in a relationship.

One night, while out with her friends, she is “saved” from a restaurant owner who understandably gets forceful with her after an attempted dine-and-dash. In retrospect, she would have been better off facing the music from that stunt she tried to pull at the diner. The mysterious knight in shining armor is 34-year-old Tom. They seem to like each other, and spark up a relationship. Well aware that this is unconventional, she saves face by telling her friends that she’s seeing a boy who goes to another school, and whenever she stays with Tom for a night or more, she tells her mom that she’s staying with a friend.

Without being familiar with the warning signs or red flags of what was to come, I took the first 75% of the movie at face value. I also didn’t know much about the movie going in. Could Palm Trees and Power Lines be a romance, I wondered. I know couples with unusual age differences who are very happy and cute together. The movie is low-key with an unmistakable indie feel – I thought “this could go one of several different places.” The other shoe does drop, and it’s the most disturbing few minutes I’ve seen in a film this year, and maybe beyond. Some might choose not to see this. Some might need to walk out, or turn it off. I wouldn’t blame any of them.

When it was time to get down to the nitty gritty, trust me, I wasn’t mentally anywhere else but the world of this movie – so on that level, Palm Trees and Power Lines is a success. It ends just when things are beginning to get quite interesting. I wouldn’t have minded another 10 minutes or so to explore why that last scene was happening, and what was to come from that. Jamie Dack directs her two leads into sincere, effective performances, even if the movie is a bit passive. As Tom, Jonathan Tucker might be a fine and convincing romantic lead in another piece – one where he picks on someone his own age. If you really are a nice guy, why do you have to say it?

Grade: B