Courtesy Studio Soho
In director Janis Pugh’s first film in roughly 10 years, the Befuddled Box of Betty Buttfint filmmaker puts a new and unique spin on the coming-of-age/working-class indie-type films we’ve seen in Lady Bird and those of its ilk.
Set in a small town in North Wales, Chuck Chuck Baby depicts the bleak life of a woman who harbors deep regrets while upholding her very soul with music and love—whether platonic, familial or romantic.
Most viewers likely won’t find the main character’s life relatable whatsoever: Helen (Louise Brealey, Brian and Charles) lives with her ex-husband Gary (Celyn Jones), his mother Gwen (Sorcha Cusack, Snatch), his girlfriend and the baby Gary had with his new flame. Helen spends her evenings caring for her dying ex-mother-in-law/mother figure and her days working in a chicken packaging factory, where her main solace is singing and dancing with her friends and coworkers.
Even if you can’t identify with Helen’s preposterous circumstances, it’s easy to relate to her heart. She blasts music and sings in the car while crying; she giggles and bonds with coworkers over their shared hatred of their boss; she dances around with her girlfriends, each of whom are troubled by their own woes. But they find solace in each other amongst the scenic backdrop of their small hometown while dreaming of something better.
That something arrives when Helen’s secret lover from high school, Joanne (Annabel Scholey, Doctor Who), comes to town, giving Helen the sense of hope and purpose for which she’d yearned. And, despite having to overcome obstacles—namely, Gary—she finds a beacon of light in a person whom she fleetingly knew 20 years prior.
The slowness of Chuck Chuck Baby feels borderline intentional, though those who can navigate its hard-to-trudge-through pacing might just find an almost-musical that shows how love and even coming-of-age aren’t reserved for teenagers
8
+Great acting; realistic and relatable
-Slow pacing; hard to follow at times
Chuck Chuck Baby
Directed by Pugh
With Brealey, Scholey, Cusack and Jones
Center for Contemporary Arts, NR, 101 min.
