Princess Cyd *** ½ / *****
Directed by: Stephen Cone.
Written by: Stephen Cone.
Starring: Rebecca Spence (Miranda Ruth), Jessie Pinnick (Cyd Loughlin), Malic White (Katie Sauter), James Vincent Meredith (Anthony James), Tyler Ross (Tab), Matthew Quattrocki (Ridley).
Not a whole lot happens in the sweet, subtle coming of age film Princess Cyd, and for the most part, that works in the films favor. In fact, the few instances when the film attempts some heavier dramatic moments are the moments when the film stumbles – as if writer/director Stephen Cone is straining for a sense of importance – something to make Princess Cyd something other than a low-key coming of age film. But that is precisely what Princess Cyd is, and precisely what it’s best at. No, it isn’t going to supplant Lady Bird as the year’s best female coming-of-age film, but it appeals to the same audience, and has the drama factor dialed further back.In the film, Jessie Pinnick stars as Cyd – a 16-year old girl, living in South Carolina with her dad. All we know of her mom is that she is dead – although a 911 call that plays over the opening credits hints at dark reasons for that – ones that will eventually be revealed late in the film. As a 16 year old is wont to do – she is clashing with her dad right now, who thinks that perhaps it would be for the best to get away from each other for a few weeks. And this is how Cyd ends up in Chicago, staying with her writer Aunt Miranda (Rebecca Spence) – her mom’s sister – who she hasn’t seen since the funeral, 8 years ago. Miranda lives a happy, but solitary life – no love life to speak of, but she does have close friends, and of course, her work. She and Cyd are very different in many ways – not least of which because Cyd doesn’t read anything not on her phone. Cyd is also direct in that way that teenagers can be – she says things that pop into her head, without thinking how they will sound.
The movie is really about how these two women negotiate the space around each other, their boundaries, and each change each other in quiet, subtle ways. There is a love story of sorts in it, when Cyd meets Katie (Malic White), and is drawn to her. She hasn’t been with a girl before – and she resists any sort of label now, but she and Katie really do like each other. There is no secret about what is happening, and one of the ways the film is refreshing is that Miranda never really gives Cyd a lecture about sex – or show that much concern. She knows that Cyd is going to experiment anyway, so why fight it that hard? This also means the one moment when Miranda does lecture Cyd – about Miranda’s choices in her life that Cyd sees as making her incomplete but Miranda does not – it hits all the harder.
Princess Cyd is one of those odd movies that as you watch it, you kind of want more to happen in it – this is certainly a movie where some will complain “nothing happens” – and yet, when things do happen, it feels off. The big monologue at the end of the movie explaining what happened to Cyd’s mom feels out-of-place – it’s believable, sure, but I don’t think it really adds anything to film as it comes out of left field, then isn’t mentioned again. A potential sexual assault on Katie by her brothers friend also feels strangely out-of-sync – a plot device to get Katie to stay at Miranda’s for a while, and not a natural part of the story.
Besides, as the movie moves along, the accumulation of details about these women – and their slowly flowering relationship is really all that is needed. This is a lovely, low-key indie film – it doesn’t push too hard for effect, which is exactly why it has the effect that it does.
