Trash Baby, 2025.
Directed by Jacy Mairs.
Starring Esther Harrison, Chloe Kramer, Eddie Wollrabe, Brianna Paige Dague.
SYNOPSIS:
In 2003, a chance encounter with an older local neighbour leads 13 year old Stevie questioning how and when to grow up.
A finely put-together coming-of-age story, Trash Baby is a well-crafted exploration of how scary adolescence can be. Writer and director Jacy Mairs captures the angst of that time and deftly wraps it around a look back to twenty-odd years ago, when teens didn’t have access to the online world of today. While text messaging was often of absolute importance – illustrated perfectly at several key moments in the film – the social media buzz of today was not there. This film explores the trailer park life and the longing for something different.
The film follows Stevie, a young girl living in the Tennessee town of Pine Park with her younger brother Kimono (Wally Moore) and mum (Brianna Paige Dague). It’s the middle of a long hot summer break, and Stevie is mostly tasked with looking after Kimono. The two of them hang out with the other trailer park kids, spraying water pistols and leaping on and off trampolines.
The perils and wisdom of getting older come into sharp focus when Stevie and her best friend Maria (Riva Ren Martin) chance upon a meeting with some young women, including the enviably mature late teens or early twenties Edie (Chloe Kramer). Edie takes Stevie under her wing and shows her the drugs, music, and boys of young adulthood.
But it’s an initiation that carries risk, and before long Stevie has been introduced to Edie’s local male friends, some of whom are wild and unruly. The much calmer Brad (Eddie Wollrabe), who used to babysit Stevie, looks out for her in a concerned older brother type of way. He also happens to have once been in a relationship with Edie, the true circumstances of which reveal to Stevie just how complicated growing up can be.
As Stevie gets more and more involved with the group of older kids, she leaves Maria behind and concentrates on trying to appear older and cool. This is mostly done through acting tough and staying out partying. She seems to think she has the whole thing sussed, until the reality of her idol’s life is displayed in grim detail.
Occasionally the dialogue is a little forced. But given how emotional adolescence generally is for everyone, the sheer overwhelm of growing up is nicely captured. In a sense, everything is dramatic because that is what it is like to be a teen. In any case, the actors, especially Harrison with her evocative portrayal of Stevie, create that very real sense of constant turmoil that is the growing-up experience for many.
Trash Baby is a smart and well-produced film that many will find hits home in the detail. As well as Harrison, Kramer’s Edie is especially well drawn. Her tough character has become hardened through experience, and her line to Stevie that the title of the movie draws from is heartbreaking in its matter-of-factness. The film is just as honest as this line, yet it is also a celebration of friendship and being true to yourself. Many audiences will leave the film feeling emotional, but also hopeful for the girls’ futures and that they can get to where they want to be, and not just stuck where someone else thinks they should be.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert W Monk
