One of the best films I saw at this year’s Sundance Film Festival wasPalm Trees and Power Lines. Directed byJamie Dack, and written by Dack andAudrey Findlay,the power film is about a teen girl (played brilliantly by first-time actorLily McInerny) and her relationship with a man twice her age (Jonathan Tucker). Without getting into the specifics of the story, the film takes an unvarnished and realistic look at how a lonely teenager can be drawn into an inappropriate relationship.
One of the many reasons why I foundPalm Trees and Power Linesto be such a powerful film is that Dack and Findlay didn’t pull any punches with the script. They never try and Hollywoodize the story and what happens. Instead, they depict on screen what, unfortunately, many women have gone through, and how someone can be pulled into walking down a dark path without realizing they left the main road. The film also starsGretchen MolandAuden Thornton.
Shortly before Jamie Dack won the U.S. Dramatic Sundance Jury Award for Directing, I spoke to her and Lily McInerny and Jonathan Tucker about making the film. They talked about what it was like on set when filming the powerful scenes, why Dack wanted to cast an unknown as the lead, how the film shines a light on how people get pulled into an unhealthy relationship and how someone can use the stages of grooming to control an individual, what would people be surprised to learn about the making of the film, the editing process, and their dream projects. In addition, Lily McInerny shared what it was like making her first film, and how it compared to what she expected.
Watch what they had to say in the player above, and below is exactly what we talked about followed by a more detailed synopsis.
Jamie Dack, Lily McInerny, and Jonathan Tucker
Here’s the officialPalm Trees and Power Linessynopsis:
Increasingly dissociated from lazy, drunken hangouts and perfunctory hookups with her immature peers, bored, aimless 17-year-old Lea is intrigued by older-man Tom after he rescues her following a reluctant dine-and-dash at a local diner. Initially wary (he’s twice her age!), Lea finds that Tom’s focused attention fills a deep, unspoken need, and Lea’s investment in their relationship quickly supplants her already tenuous ties to her distracted single mom and loose-knit friend group. But Tom’s initial patience and willingness to let Lea take the lead gradually gives way to a dynamic in which his awareness of the power he holds is distressingly clear.
