Flutter (2014)

Directed by: Eric Hueber
Country: USA

Movie Review: Eric Hueber’s empathetic indie drama, “Flutter”, addresses the struggles of a mother in adverse times. Living in Bastrop County, Texas, in a messy house full of junk, JoLynn (Lindsay Pulsipher) tries her best to take care of Johnathan (Johnathan Huth Jr.), a naughty sweet boy who experiences strong ocular pressure spikes, a consequence of suffering from glaucoma. The way she found to handle this critical situation was giving him brownies made with weed, so his pressure remains at acceptable levels. She calls it medicine, and Jonathan seems to respond well to this improvised treatment. This represents only one of her many problems, since her husband, David, went away for an undetermined time in an inglorious attempt to find himself as a country musician, and the best he does is writing some hopeful letters without sending enough money to cover the three months rent she owes. Besides this, her mother-in-law, who lives right next door, is not so understandable as her father-in-law, Mark (Glenn Morshower), in regard to Jonathan’s behavior, and calls both the police and the social services for an inspection. JoLynn merely finds some support in Curtis, a neighbor who owns atypical animals and occasionally buys little bags of weed from her. Unaware of all these difficulties, Jonathan enjoys playing outside in the company of his precious pet, Weewee - the pig, living in a world of fantasy, which is unnecessarily represented on the screen by animated sequences. The precarious situation forces JoLynn to take actions she certainly isn’t proud of, putting at risk, not only the ones who help her, but also her son. The film’s intelligible structure avoids knots of any kind while the performances draw genuine scenes between mother and son.