JANET PLANET

 Another Marmite movie in that you will either love it or hate it but if, in the initial scenes, you're a detractor don't rush to judgement because "Janet Planet" is finally hypnotic and in a good way. It's another movie in which 'nothing happens'; there's no plot just an observation of life passing slowly for a young girl, her mother and the people who 'intrude' in their lives one summer in rural Massachusetts. Since it's set in the past, 1991, you might see it as autobiographical and it marks the directorial debut of writer Annie Baker.

Janet is Julianne Nicholson, a forty or fifty something acupuncturist who lives near the woods and who is unhappy. A superb Zoe Ziegler is Lacy, her friendless young daughter, mature beyond her years and the very centre of her own universe. People played by Will Patton, Elias Koteas and a terrific Sophie Okonedo drift in and out of their lives leaving no mark.

It's a slow, you might even say, pretentiously 'arty' picture which makes no concessions to its audience or their expectations. Dialogue is sparse and literate and it's gorgeously photographed by Maria von Hausswolff. I began by being a little bored by the lack of anything resembling 'action' but gradually I became enchanted by the imagery, the music and the performances. Yes, like Marmite it's an acquired taste but if you stick with it you will be amply rewarded.