Janet Planet

Though the title of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker’s directorial debut may evoke Schoolhouse Rock to some of you and The Rocky Horror Picture Show to others, her intimately nuanced examination of a bohemian mother and introverted daughter in 1991 makes it a central metaphor. Lacy (Zoe Ziegler), navigating the summer vacation between fifth and sixth grade, yearns to—but also fears to—escape the orbit of her mother Janet (Julianne Nicholson, Mare of Easttown) as she leaves childhood. It’s been just the two of them, you see, but then three satellites enter, then leave, the picture: Will Patton (Wendy and Lucy) as an aspiring boyfriend, Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) as an old friend, and Elias Koteas (Exotica) as the head of a spacey theatre troupe.

The screenplay gestated in Baker’s mind and heart for decades—“It was kind of the first idea for a movie I ever had,” she revealed—drawing deeply on the milieu she grew up in, the woods of western Massachusetts. Nicholson did too, though not until they met during casting did the two discover their childhood proximity (“We shopped at the same stores and swam in the same ponds,” Baker said in an interview). No score, just nature sounds, keeps the focus entirely on the mother and daughter in this hyper-subtle character study; sound designer Paul Hsu has said Janet Planet was the quietest movie he’s ever worked on.

Directed by Annie Baker

2023 | USA, United Kingdom | English language | DCP

Rated PG-13

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Concessions

Concessions are available for all screenings and the Harris Theater is now BYOB. Guests who bring alcoholic beverages must be 21 years or older and provide valid photo ID upon request, a $5 charge will be issued per guest.