I Believe in Unicorns

Whereas during the 1980s cinematic teenage angst was safe in the hands of real talents like John Hughes and Amy Heckerling, nowadays—if rookie director Leah Meyerhoff's debut is any measure—a teen's coming-of-age experience is reduced to kids moping around in a trance-like state dreaming of unicorns. Exuding a vaguely poetic sensibility, young protagonist Davina (played with soporific understatement by Natalia Dyer) is a shy high schooler who develops a crush on a brooding, cigarette-sucking skate punk named Sterling (Peter Vack). Although there is no chemistry between Sterling and Davina, both are obsessed with the idea of escape, but don't know where to go. So, they launch themselves on an impromptu roadtrip of indefinite duration, while Davina leaves her crippled wheelchair-bound mother to fend for herself. The rest of the story serves up a mélange of indulgent dream sequences (some involving the titular unicorns), 8mm home movie-style interludes, and the boring teen couple's random adventures—which amount to shoplifting, screwing, arguing, and eating at diners. Of course, Davina's naïve dreams of escaping reality and its attendant responsibilities will eventually be crushed. The film's visual eccentricities, most prominently manifested in clips of Claymation and stop-motion photography (which complement the dream sequences) unfortunately fail to compensate for the general absence of a compelling story. Optional, at best. (M. Sandlin)