Future Weather

Young girl fears for the planet
"Future Weather" finds a bright young girl trying to spread the word about climate change while her personal world is collapsing. Launduree (Perla Haney-Jardine), age 13, is forever trying to inform her rural Illinois community about the dangers of global warning. She plants trees wherever possible and lectures her best friend about the importance of mussels to the marine environment.

One day she comes home to her trailer park to find a note from her single mom (Marin Ireland) saying she has gone off to Hollywood to follow her dream of being a makeup artist to the stars. All she leaves behind is $50. Still, Launduree clings to her home and a school carbon dioxide experiement. But her grandmother (Amy Madigan) has other plans. Thrust together, they learn to trust each other in the face of an uncertain future.

The film works best as a character study of a youngster too intelligent for her environment and Ms. Hanley-Jardine does an admirable job anchoring the...

A Small Family Drama Bolstered By A Terrifically Understated Lead Performance
I had never heard of the indie "Future Weather" by first time writer/director Jenny Deller before sitting down to watch it. And this lack of expectation probably served me well. A very small picture, "Future Weather" paints a vivid portrait of small town life, a girl's search for purpose, and the restructuring of a fractured family. With strong supporting turns from Lili Taylor and Amy Madigan (one of my choices for the most underrated actress ever), the movie is both smart and grounded. But what makes this effort stand out has got to be its young star, Perla Haney-Jardine. Front and center in almost every scene, Haney-Jardine creates a truly original protagonist. Her character, Lauduree, is not the typical representation of teen angst that you've seen a dozen time before. Instead, she plays the savvy outsider. Instead of confronting the difficulties in her personal life, she chooses instead to focus on a myriad of ecological concerns. But in many ways, this obsession stands...

Yes I Liked It. But is it Any Good?
Now and then a movie comes along that throws me for a loop. I sit and enjoy it, but can't really figure out if it was any good or not. This is one of those movies.

Here's the scoop. Lauduree (Perla Haney-Jardine) is a budding and exceptionally bright girl whose mother has just ditched her to try and make it as a makeup artist in Hollywood. Lauduree is in the middle of some plant based experiments to try to determine shifting weather patterns. She needs to keep mom's disappearance on the down low to stay in the game. Grandma Greta (Amy Madigan) finds out and does her best to help. Lauduree's teacher, Ms. Markovi (Lili Taylor) is also in to help as best she can. Can water find it's own level here?

This is writer/director Jenny Deller's expansion of her earlier short film also starring Perla. It was a wise choice to keep her because she's mostly what's happening here. Madigan does a really good job and Taylor is okay, but it's Perla who steals the show. She gives a...

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