Daisy Winters - Movie Review

While checking the new releases in my Moviepass app, I noticed a new film playing at the theater closest to my house. The film is called Daisy Winters. I was looking for a movie tonight and decided that the 8.4 rating at IMDb made this choice a lock. I was a bit pensive as I have not seen a single trailer for this film. I went into this film completely blind regarding the subject matter.

Suicide and death are prevailing themes in Daisy Winters. Daisy (Sterling Jerins) is a brutally honest 11-year-old. Daisy has one good friend, Jackson (Nick Gore) who lives next door. The pair are both a bit socially awkward, making their friendship seem natural. Daisy is as smart as she is blunt. Her mother (Brooke Shields) has been struggling with cancer since Daisy was young. For that reason, the single mother has given her daughter a wide berth. Daisy has a close, loving relationship with her mother. Even when she speaks coarsely about sensitive subjects. Daisy soon finds herself grappling with the reality of her mother's own mortality.

Daisy Winters has a unique perspective. The preoccupation with death and suicide in this story make a great deal of sense in hindsight. Writer/Director Beth LaMure committed suicide just months after completing her first film. The story moves along at a trudging pace, which threatened to lose me at times. But there was enough value in the characters to keep my on the hook. The film felt like Hallmark in a dark mood. It had the heartstrings of a Hallmark film with the darkness of an indie. The strange combination worked. The characters included a creepy, but likable neighbor (Doug/Iwan Rheon), a judgmental aunt (Margaret/Carrie Preston), and a new friend (Josh/Kyle Red Silverstein) with a cool motorcycle-riding dad (Paul Blackthorne). The characters were fairly well developed, although the main antagonist was a bit flat. Overall, the story had a slow arc that was a bit anti-climactic. But that was the right combination for this particular story.

This is the second character-driven film I have seen in as many days. Both of them centered primarily on young female characters portrayed by actresses I did not know. And both delivered incredible performances. Jerins is simply amazing. She possesses an innocence that betrays the outward worldliness her character projects. Her chemistry with Brooke Shields was genuine. You can tell these two really like each other (I would imagine...it seems this child would be hard to hate). Rheon was already creepy to me in Game of Thrones...so he was a bit typecast as a creepy neighbor, but this was a totally different role. Much more endearing in the end. His casting seems a bit of misdirection, perhaps. I enjoyed the performances, which are usually essential in character films.

Daisy Winters felt longer than the one hour and thirty minute run time. The pacing was the hardest obstacle for me. The subject matter was dark and there was plenty of thematic material. The film includes drug use and strong language as well. There is also a blow up doll and a pornographic magazine. But no nudity or sex scenes. The content earned this film a PG-13 rating from the MPAA.

Daisy Winters is an interesting first and last film from Beth LaMure. It feels like it is almost her call for help that no one heard. The story itself has a combination of darkness and sweetness that seem mismatched, but work. The actors bring their characters to life, making the sluggish pacing worth bearing. It was better than the hackneyed tripe we often get from Hollywood. For that reason, I will recommend this film with a 7.5/10. It could have been better, but it is decent the way it is.