Babyteeth

Since John Green became one of the biggest trends on Tumblr around eight years ago, films focused on teenage cancer have become their own sub-genre from the standard coming-of-age chick flicks. Whilst many have been lacklustre in their attempt at something new or even memorable, Babyteeth seeks to take the concept of what these previous releases have had and elevate it to something truly mesmerising. Written by Rita Kalnejai who based this off her stage play of the same name, herself and director Shannon Murphy have collaborated to create something both visually and literally cinematic.

Opening on a close up of teenage girl Milla (Eliza Scanlen), we see her body slowly move forward whilst staring at an empty train track. A sixteen-year-old who’s looking at some form of awakening or exploration in her somewhat quiet and average school life. Murphy doesn’t hang around waiting for this as a rat-tailed and bruised-up 23-year-old in the form of Moses (Toby Wallace) comes bumping into her and then beckoning to her call when she suffers a nose bleed. A parent’s worst nightmare, this severely older boy is homeless and high, a drug addict who may have found gold or possibly love when meeting Milla. But being as unaware as the film itself on Moses’ true intentions, he still offers Milla a form of escapism in forgetting the hospital rooms, sleepless nights and endless pain. He quite literally introduces her to a world of colour and light – no better explained than when they stumble through house parties and karaoke bars with a night out on the town (a sequence beautifully shot by cinematographer Andrew Commis).

Babyteeth however is unwilling to place its character into stereotypical boxes that you may find in a love story or tragedy. Although you may know the destination, there are plenty of detours and traffic to keep you guessing on where these characters will end up next. This is also due to the hyper-editing style of editor Stephen Evans who’s happy to jump past moments when it’s clear what the end result of the scene will be. Milla and Moses’ night out on the town leaves her parents frantically searching for her, but reconciliation is never seen on screen – instead choosing to jump to another one of Milla’s hospital visits. The use of captions is not for locations or chapter heading but for whatever may possibly suit the following scene. Sometimes filler to bridge the gaps, sometimes emotion to explain Milla’sfeelings and once even as a form of poetry to explain the inevitable journey of Milla’s life. As a perfectly suited 118 minutes long, Babyteeth gives you exactly what you need from this story and nothing more.

What makes Murphy’s independent drama so captivating though is that this cannot be defined as just a young love story. Milla’s parents Henry (Ben Mendelsohn) and Anna (Essie Davis) are also going on their own personal journeys of how to cope with the possible loss of their only child. Henry must confront his inner desire of wanting to escape his marriage duties whilst Anna must rid of her guilt of focusing on something that isn’t her daughter’s cancer. All these characters are their own eccentric selves, never really changing but learning in the process – they are unique and aware of the bizarre situation around them.

Babyteeth is an incredibly poignant film that is stacked with enough beauty to make you awe at Murphy and Kalnejai’s passion and care for these characters. Summarised perfectly when Henry gets emotional taking photos of Milla at their day out at the beach. She is not unaware in his motivations of trying to capture her life and these moments through film, and yet she chooses to take the camera and take a portrait of her dad with her mum instead. Like the very characters themselves, Babyteeth is unlike anything else.