A depiction is neither an endorsement nor an opinion. That’s the challenge faced by Palm Trees and Power Lines’ writer-director Jamie Dack in his film, which meticulously dramatises the steps predators take to lure young, impressionable women into sex work. There is a horrible feeling of inevitability to how these events play out, and when the images we know are coming finally arrive, they are just as revolting and difficult to watch as they should be. The aims of the film remain unclear beyond the scope of mere recording. Lea (Lily McInerny), a 17-year-old, is shown in the opening scenes of this suitably bleak indie having a fight with her mother Sandra (Gretchen Mol), watching makeup tutorials on YouTube, & hanging out with a group of kids she doesn’t particularly like but who have beer and pot, so she hangs out with them anyway. Everything of this, including Lea’s insecurity over her perceived lack of maturity, pars for the course of a teenager. Lea is bored when her mum has a guy around and she and her pals drink Colt 45 and look through Instagram since she doesn’t feel welcome at home when her mom’s boyfriends are there.
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She spends a lot of time waiting about in the nameless Southern California neighbourhood that serves as the film’s setting. So, she is an easy mark for Tom (Jonathan Tucker), a 34-year-old man who “innocently” offers Lea a ride home after a catastrophic dine-and-dash scenario at a late-night diner. Tom “owns a little business” and never reveals anything about his income or where it comes from to Lea, despite the fact that he drives a lovely truck and always has cash on hand. The creepiness of Tucker’s portrayal is immediately apparent: he keeps his eyes fixed on McInerny the whole time she’s speaking, he alternates between criticising and praising her, and he constantly places his body so that he’s hovering over her much smaller figure. The situation deteriorates about halfway through after Lea and Tom had their first sexual encounter. From “you’re never going to leave me” to “nobody’s ever going to love you as I love you,” he’s been ramping up his rhetoric towards her.
Tom’s hotel room is where they’re hanging out when suddenly there’s a frantic hammering on the door. As Tom is away, Lea overhears him telling the lady outside that she is a “friend” who needs his assistance “with a guy she’s seeing.” Just like a boyfriend?” Concerned, Lea speaks out. Certainly, that’s near enough. If you’re paying attention, you’ll see quite quickly what Tom’s “job” entails; the film’s terror comes from seeing how Lea repeatedly misses or rationalises away the countless warning signs he sets up. Tom’s intentions are plain, but what Lea is thinking is more obscure. Early passages in “Palm Trees and Power Lines” show promise in this regard, establishing the sexually charged environment in which Lea finds herself and revealing how her mother instilled in her the value of men at the expense of all else. But, apart from this one aspect of her life, nothing is known about her character. Lea’s posture is passive, and she has a sad expression on her face. She doesn’t have any interests outside of music and isn’t sure what she wants to do with her life once she graduates from high school.
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We do know that she is not an obedient child; she is knowledgeable and cynical enough to question the motives of some of the adults in her life. Lea is characterised purely by her victimisation as she descends farther into the rabbit hole of grooming and sexual assault, yet her character lacks identity on the whole. Dack frames the more upsetting sequences to protect her young actress (this is McInerny’s first feature picture) and stays on McInerny’s face in lengthy, uninterrupted close-ups to establish a connection between the character and the spectator. It’s terrible to see McInerny’s brow wrinkle for an instant as she realises what Tom really wants from her, and then her eyes fill with tears as she looks for an exit. This sequence of images is reminiscent of one in Audrey Diwan’s film “Happening,” in which the camera remains still while the protagonist muffles her screams during an agonising at-home abortion.
Yet in “Happening,” since she is a more fully formed person, the reader can more easily relate to the protagonist. It’s true that many 17-year-olds have no notion of what they like or what they want to be when they grow up. The focus on Lea’s actions rather than her thoughts and feelings in “Palm Trees and Power Lines” implies that the trauma itself is remembered rather than Lea’s.
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