Phoebe in Wonderland (2009, Image)
purchase from Amazon: DVD

Elle Fanning gives one of the most touching and heart breaking performances you will see this year in writer/director Daniel Barnz’s Phoebe in Wonderland. This little seen gem that received a limited theatrical release is now available on DVD. With a thought provoking story, exemplary performances by Fanning, Felicity Huffman and Patricia Clarkson, and imaginative, beautiful cinematography by Bobby Bukowski, Phoebe in Wonderland is a movie you’ll be thinking about weeks after watching it for the first time.

Fanning is Phoebe Lichten, the precocious daughter of two writers, Hillary (Huffman) and Peter (an understated Bill Pullman). Hillary is struggling to complete a book on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, while Peter has just learned that his new book is going to be published. This family of four also includes little sister, Olivia (Bailee Madison). As the film opens, Phoebe, a social outcast with seemingly one friend, has begun showing signs of obsessive compulsive disorder, in particular washing her hands until they’re raw, and having occasional outbursts in class. Rules bug Phoebe and she isn’t afraid to let her teachers know it. However, Barnz implies early on that there is something deeper going on with Phoebe and that this isn’t just some pre-teen rebelliousness. Thankfully, he takes his time in getting us to the answer, allowing the characters time to grow and the story to unfold at a pleasant pace. When an unconventional theater teacher (Clarkson) casts Phoebe as the lead in a production of Alice in Wonderland, Phoebe discovers that performing on stage allows her to calm down and escape her lonely childhood life. (more…)