“You don’t have to be invisible to disappear.”

Josh’s review: When you were a kid, did your drawings make the fridge? Have you as a progeny-possessing parent pinned your kid’s art to a board? What did that look like? I mean, really look like? A sun with eyes, flying Vs as birds, blue grass, stick men, giants dogs and cats, oh my!

The movie Paperhouse and the young adult novel that inspired it asks what those things might look like if you could actually experience them and what responsibility the creator must take for the creations.

Charlotte Burke (in her one and only film) plays Anna, an 11-year-old girl who is having a rough childhood. She gets in trouble at school, fights with her mom, and skips class with her friend. Anyone who was a kid with an absentee parent can relate to her behavior. When she falls sick with a serious illness that confines her to the bed, she passes the time by drawing.

It starts with a house, and when Anna falls asleep… there it is. Over the next hour and a half we witness how she deals with the consequences of her emotions and her actions in and out of her dream world.

Straight off I would like to say I enjoyed this one. It is not without its flaws, but there is a certain charm here. One of those charms lies in the set design. Production Designer Gemma Jackson and Art Directors Frank Walsh and Anne Tilby do a masterful job of bringing a child’s drawing to life. The set pieces look like they are from a play that Tim Burton is directing. They are simple and strange and is the equivalent of the uncanny valley effect for houses. It’s no wonder some of their post Paperhouse credits include John Adams, Game of Thrones, and Maleficent.

Director Bernard Rose, whose background includes some very British productions of music videos by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, UB40, and Bronski Beat, delivers a juxtaposition between a worm cozy home and a dreamy fantasy world where things can change on a dime.

In my mind, it would be a difficult task to direct children, but Rose does a good job with Burke. They are successful in portraying a character who evolves throughout the film. She is a whiny, little jerk at the beginning and finds her way into understanding and patience by the conclusion. There is also a great scene in the beginning where Anna is with her friend and they are applying makeup, talking about boys and kissing, and in the next moment Anna wants to play hide-and-seek, highlighting how awkward her current age. One foot in adulthood, one in childhood.

Let’s talk music. I had a legitimate double take moment when I saw Hans Zimmer in the opening credits. “THE Hans Zimmer?” I said aloud to no one. “Muppet Treasure Island’s Hans Zimmer?” Just kidding on that last part. It was that Zimmer, along with his partner Stanley Myers. And aside from the random piercing guitar riffs whenever Anna’s dream dad attacks, I liked the score. It seemed like Zimmer was trying out some stuff with this one, and it added to the strangeness of the setting. There are some scenes with tradition orchestral compositions and then some with men and boys choral performances. Really throwing everything at the wall.

An area where this film is lacking is pacing. When the climax came to an end, I realized there was still another 25 minutes left! The remainder is a bit dull and there is a very uncomfortable nine-Mississippi kissing scene between the two child actors. Still, one powerful line delivered in this segment comes from Anna, who says, “You don’t have to be invisible to disappear, dad.” Mic drop.

Paperhouse is a cool movie, just right for a rainy Sunday when you don’t feel like doing chores. Or, why not watch it next time you are sick in bed? I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Intermission!

• If you want more like this, check out “Marianne Dreams” by Catherine Storr or the mini-series Escape into the Night from 1972 also inspired by the novel. Storr also wrote a sequel to “Marianne Dreams” with the same character if you are super interested.
• What the hell is this little girl talking about!? She has been making out with three different boys in the same night? SHE IS 11! Also, while never saying it in the movie, the illness she has is Mono. Do you think it is from using this girl’s makeup?!
• “I’M NOT A DRAWING!”
• The legs explode into dust as Anna pumps green goop from a soft serve machine.
• Loving the Coca-Cola product placement.
• “I want to get Karen some rock.” Like, crack?
• Don’t judge me, I thought it would’ve been a better film if she reached for the ladder of this helicopter and we pull back to her mom running as fast as she can to Anna, calling her name like she loves doing. From the mother’s POV, there is no helicopter and we just see Anna disappear over the cliff to the rocks below. Credits.