When diagnosed with cancer, survival can hang on the edge of a knife. Surviving it is a toss-up, and not everyone ends up living to talk about it. That is the simple part. The complexity comes during the time spent living with it, enduring it, and fighting it, which is what makes Babyteeth such a pure depiction of what it’s actually like. Shot on location in its entirety in Australia, Babyteeth is a raw look at how cancer can destroy a life and the lives around it. It made its debut midway through 2020 and is now available to watch on numerous platforms.
The Babyteeth movie’s primary focus is on that of Milla, a sixteen year old girl who’s been diagnosed with cancer.
The movie’s primary focus is on that of Milla, a sixteen year old girl who’s been diagnosed with cancer. Milla begins to have feelings for Moses, a young man in his twenties with a drug problem. Though this is basically the main plot point, Babyteeth also gives attention to the other characters and their issues. Milla’s parents have a complicated relationship, and with her, and Moses is literally what defines being a troubled youth is. Still at the end of it all, because of her illness, it’s Milla who is the source of everyone’s pain. The presence of Moses in her life though, however toxic, is tolerated by her parents only when it seems that he is a source of happiness for her. This sort of format works in Babyteeth’s favor, stripping everything bare to get to the truth of terminal illness and the effect it leaves on others.
The shooting style of this screams ‘indie film’. The close-ups, coloring, and focused shots are clearly an influence of art-house style movies and for a story like this, it works. Director Shannon Murphy marks this as her first feature length production, and her efforts are positively noticed. The actors don’t disappoint in the slightest either. Eliza Scanlen as Milla is a revelation, her choices intelligible and her character depth sound. Toby Wallace shows his character Moses as either well researched or well experienced (likely the former) as his behavior is spot on to anyone who’s ever dealt with a drug addict or addiction themselves. Milla’s parents played by Essie Davis and Ben Mendelsohn are admirably genuine, they being the tragic side of the equation, as many a parent will have held their child’s hand all the way to the end or through the worst of it. The score also cannot be faulted, accommodating the script appropriately, with the script itself being the largest asset amongst the rest.
Babyteeth has more than enough traits to make it interesting.
Babyteeth has more than enough traits to make it interesting. Rita Kalnejais writes a script that has comedy, drama, tragedy, and empathy, all of which somehow seem to coincide with one another. To anyone who has experienced the content of this movie, it’s up to each individual person to decide on giving it a chance. It’s solid as a movie, but it is unrestrained and it pulls no punches. It’s available to anyone with a Hulu subscription, or for rent/purchase online.
