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Electrick Children Play Trailer Get Showtimes

Electrick Children (2013)

tomatometer

85

Average Rating: 6/10
Reviews Counted: 20
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 3

A strong directorial debut for Rebecca Thomas, Electrick Children also features an outstanding performance from Julia Garner as a wild teenager from a conservative family.

86

Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 1

A strong directorial debut for Rebecca Thomas, Electrick Children also features an outstanding performance from Julia Garner as a wild teenager from a conservative family.

audience

63

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 1,578

My Rating

Movie Info

In the debut feature from director Rebecca Thomas, ELECTRICK CHILDREN, Julia Garner (MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE, SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR) plays Rachel, a rambunctious teenager from a fundamentalist Morman family in Utah. On Rachel's 15th birthday, she discovers a forbidden cassette tape with rock music on it. Having never heard anything like it, Rachel has a miraculous experience. Three months later, Rachel turns up pregnant and claims to have had an immaculate conception

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Drama

Rebecca Thomas

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All Critics (20) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (3)

Though unevenly told and at times too fanciful for its own good, "Electrick Children" marks an intriguing feature debut for its risk-taking writer-director, Rebecca Thomas.

March 7, 2013 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
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"Electrick Children" is well acted and refreshingly nonjudgmental, but its narrative continuity is tenuous at best.

March 7, 2013 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
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Thomas makes an assured debut as both writer and director, the gifted Culkin is excellent as always, and Garner finds lovely shades of nuance in Rachel's innocent faith.

March 7, 2013 Full Review Source: New York Daily News
New York Daily News
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Thomas has an aversion to the easy resolution-she knows precisely which mysteries to keep dangling.

March 6, 2013 Full Review Source: Village Voice
Village Voice
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The best moments in filmmaker Rebecca Thomas's debut feature manage flashes of wide-eyed grace-that is, when the overly precious, half-formed story isn't undermining her understated direction and the work of a fine cast.

March 5, 2013 Full Review Source: Time Out New York
Time Out New York
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You needn't be a true believer to appreciate Rebecca Thomas's indie feature rooted in a traditional Mormon community.

March 4, 2013 Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter
Hollywood Reporter
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Good as it is, with a catchy high concept and hip indie sensibility, it could have been so much better. Culkin, Aiken and Garner, however, can count the film as an unmitigated triumph.

March 8, 2013 Full Review Source: The Playlist
The Playlist

Rebecca Thomas's debut feature is a sensible and humane exploration of youthful curiosity.

March 4, 2013 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

Sweet but never sickly ... Electrick Children is real must-see from a bright new talent.

March 4, 2013 Full Review Source: Film4

The film ultimately exposes itself as fluffy fantasy.

November 8, 2012 Full Review Source: Flicks.co.nz
Flicks.co.nz

The debut feature of twentysomething Rebecca Thomas, who herself grew up in the Mormon faith, this US indie is a decent coming-of-age yarn, adorned with some magic realist flourishes.

July 17, 2012 Full Review Source: The List
The List

Writer-director Rebecca Thomas invites us into this world with a gentle, unhectoring hand, and keeps the mystery of her story wide open.

July 13, 2012 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph
Daily Telegraph

Rebecca Thomas's gauzy debut about a 15-year-old Mormon who believes she's had an immaculate conception is deftly done.

July 12, 2012 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK]
Guardian [UK]

After the interesting initial concept, Electrick Children falls apart structurally, most notably in its transition between the second and third act.

July 12, 2012 Full Review Source: Little White Lies
Little White Lies

An interesting and catchy take on a traditional tale of repressed teenage rebellion.

July 8, 2012 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

The performances are excellent, and the filmmaking is mesmerising.

July 5, 2012 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall
Shadows on the Wall

Careful, kids - rock'n'roll can get you pregnant. Or that's what one Mormon teen believes in this cute lo-fi indie from first-timer Rebecca Thomas.

July 2, 2012 Full Review Source: Total Film
Total Film

There's a solid core to this magical realist coming of age tale that smooths over the odd bump.

May 24, 2012 Full Review Source: Screen International
Screen International

"Electrick Children" exudes raw talent and heralds the arrival of a voice that could evolve into something truly special, even if it's currently a little unsure of what exactly it wants to say.

March 12, 2012 Full Review Source: In Contention

Audience Reviews for Electrick Children

It bores in some parts, and it's very strange--in fact one of the weirdest films to come out in recent memory. But overall it is enjoyable and quite endearing, thanks to the performances of the young actors and the way that it is filmed. The movie wins points also for its unique concept and plot. It intrigues and at times excites, even if the pacing is a bit off at times. It is quite memorable though.
March 17, 2013
Matthew Samuel Mirliani

Super Reviewer

Like a companion piece to "Martha Marcy May Marlene", Thomas' movie similarly deals with a teenage girl escaping a religious community. It's star, Garner, actually featured in the former film as the newest recruit to John Hawkes' commune. Here she's a fifteen year old girl who lives in a strict Utah Mormon colony. After hearing a cover version of Blondie's "Hanging on the Telephone" on a mysterious audio cassette, her world-view is shattered. A few months later she becomes pregnant and claims it's an immaculate conception brought on by the cassette. Believing the singer to be the father, she flees the colony and heads to Las Vegas, presuming that a "city of electricity" like Vegas must be responsible for her situation.
Like her central character, director Thomas grew up in the Mormon faith and clearly has a bone to pick. She's made the cinematic equivalent of holding a preacher in a headlock while you administer painkillers to his daughter. It's an unabashed, fist-pumping celebration of modernity, secularism, music, medicine, freedom and indeed electricity. How you view religion will temper your enjoyment of the film. If, like me, you love technology, civilization and progress and believe religion is man's biggest mistake, you'll fully appreciate this film. Politically, it's the polar opposite of the anti-interventionist message of "Beasts of the Southern Wild".
In a year of great performances by young actresses, Garner delivers one of the best. She makes the character entirely lovable and her social awkwardness is equally charming and heart-breaking. Thomas' direction is simple but assured and alongside Andrea Arnold, Julia Leigh and Lynne Ramsey, we seem to be living in a golden age of female film-makers.
November 10, 2012
www.themoviewaffler.com
The Movie Waffler

Super Reviewer

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