Babyteeth

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Storyline (warning: spoilers)

What is the best possible parenting when your daughter, your only child, has terminal cancer?  That is the question at the heart of this movie.  The father, Henry, is a psychiatrist and the mother, Anna, a former concert pianist.  The daughter Milla, is still at an all-girls school in Sydney; on bad days she wears a wig.  This is a family struggling to keep it together, each of them unravelling. The house is stock piled with prescription drugs, and Milla is not the only one taking them.  Indeed she seems the one best composed, her parents are going through their worst nightmare.

Their lives change when waiting for the train, Milla meets a young man called Moses.  He is 23 or so, the eight year age gap goes to the title, she still has a few baby teeth.  Moses has tattoos on his hands, neck and face; he is a low level drug user and dealer.

When Milla brings him home, her parents have to decide whether to chase off this handsome wolf or let him into their lives.  Henry asks him what he does and the reply is “I'm not functional”.

What Henry and Anna do in fits and starts and full of doubts goes to the question of how to be a good parent.  What Milla and Moses do goes to putting life first.

The script feels true to life and there is humour too, there has to be.  When Henry and Anna wonder if Milla and Moses are having sex, the look on their faces is perfect.

Mendelson and Davis bring a star quality to their roles, but it is the young actors who bring the screen alive.