Daisy Winters
Daisy Winters is a 2017 American independent drama film written and directed by Beth LaMure. The film follows an 11-year-old girl named Daisy Winters, played by Sterling Jerins. Daisy's mother Sandy (Brooke Shields) has been losing a fight with cancer for years. This has made Daisy obsessed with everything to do with death.[1]
| Daisy Winters | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Beth LaMure |
| Produced by | Beth LaMure |
| Screenplay by | Beth LaMure |
| Starring | Sterling Jerins, Brooke Shields, Carrie Preston, Iwan Rheon, Nick Gore and Paul Blackthorne |
| Music by | Paul Grabowsky |
| Cinematography | Shawn Maurer |
Production company | Daisy Force Pictures, Hannover House and Me Jane |
Release date |
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| Language | English |
Director Beth LaMure took her own life on October 2, 2016, during the post-production phase of the film but the project was carried on by producers Jane Badler, Deborah Moore and Sean E. Demott. It premiered on October 5, 2017, reaching public theatres on December 1, 2017. Rotten Tomatoes gave a rating of 60% positive based on five critic's reviews.
Plot
Set in the 1990s, Daisy Winters is the daughter of Sandy Winters who has been battling cancer for the past 5 years. Daisy's Aunt Margaret is seen exiting Sandy's home hitting her own daughter across the face hard. Inside the house, in a heated argument between Daisy and her mother it is revealed that Daisy has not had contact with her father for years due to her mother breaking off contact with him because of a bad divorce. In this same argument it is arranged that when Sandy dies, Daisy is to live with her Aunt Margaret who is against her sister's relaxed mothering methods in comparison to her harsh and conservative approach.
Daisy brainstorms ways of getting out of the future living situation in her Aunt's home with her best friend, Jackson Kumar ,on their way to school. At school Daisy writes a poem titled 'Fear' while her classmates draw pictures of kittens.
Between coming up with an escape tactic and school, Daisy and Jackson spy on their neighbour Doug who is a weed-dealing computer hacker who constantly watches them walk by his house. When one day he is absent from his daily surveillance, they snoop around and find that he has hung himself just moments after young Daisy jokingly predicts that he might have because of his unusual absence from his front porch where he would normally watch them ride by with binoculars. After they find the body Daisy and Jackson take some of Doug's surveillance gear to help them plot Daisy's escape in preparation for her mother to die.
Daisy and her mother take part in bonding activities such as making cookies and watching films together because her mother is getting sicker and the treatment is not working for her cancer. Up until this point there have been mainly fighting scenes between Daisy and her mother Sandy but by this point in the film there is a change of tone and a big effort from both of their parts to reconcile before Sandy passes away. Daisy unknowingly mixes the cookie batter while her mother clicks send on an email to Daisy's father informing him of her ill health and pleading with him to take Daisy if she were to pass away.
Her mother vomits every morning and remains bed ridden towards the end of the film. Daisy comes home from school to find that her mother has passed away and has more concern over living with her Aunt Margaret than of her actual mother's death as she frantically runs upstairs and locks herself in her room while she tries to contact her friend Jackson to help her escape.
Daisy attempts to escape her second story room with the help of Jackson with rope and walkie talkies to aid her in cascading down the side of her two story home and out her bedroom window. However, Daisy doesn't get very far along her street before Aunt Margaret catches her on the run and forces her to get into her car. Just as they return home, she finds a man who she hasn't seen in years is standing in her driveway. In the car Daisy sits next to the man who she already knows to be her father who has come to take custody of her after receiving her mother's email.
Cast
- Sterling Jerins as Daisy Winters
- Brooke Shields as Sandy Winters
- Carrie Preston as Aunt Margaret
- Iwan Rheon as Doug
- Paul Blackthorne as Robert Stergen
- Nick Gore as Jackson Kumar
Background
From the time that LaMure finished writing Daisy Winters to the time that it was produced it took 13 years to be put together.[2] LaMure placed a lot of emphasis on having a strong female cast to support her feminist stance and wanted to make up for the lack of young, adventurous and strong female leads in the film industry[3]
It took LaMure a long time to find her idea of the strong female lead that she was looking for, taking time with her casting was important for her as Sterling Jerins auditioned three years before filming took place.[4]
Despite raising awareness for topics of depression and suicide in the film, LaMure took her own life towards the latter end of post-production.[1] Production was continued by producers Jane Badler, Deborah Moore and Sean E. Demott. Sterling Jerins commented that "it was one of the saddest moments of my life" after having found out about her director's passing.[4]
Cinematography
Shawn Maurer was in charge of cinematography and focused on "warm and bright" lighting to give a childish essence to the film. He used handheld camerawork throughout the scenes displaying fear.[1]
Final Cut Pro X was used to edit the film, primarily because of its low cost.[5]
Critical reception
As of February 2020, 60% of the 5 critic's reviews compiled by Rotten Tomatoes are positive, and have an average score of 4 out of 10, with no consensus.[6] In her review for The Los Angeles Times, Kimber Myers criticized the plot as unconvincing and contrived with an overly pat ending while praising the performances, technical proficiency and production values. She commented: " ... other than its performances everything it offers feels inorganic".[7] Amy Nicholson, in her review for Variety, praised the performance by Jerins and the cinematography while criticizing the character of Doug as unconvincing and out of place. The review concluded: " ... even in its strangest moments, there's something refreshing in LaMure's insistence that human behaviour does not fit in tidy boxes and that kids are stronger than adults expect".[1] Jeffrey M Anderson for Common Sense Media rated the film two stars from five, criticizing the direction as lifeless, awkward and detached with thin characterizations apart from the central character, praising the performance of Jerins.[8] Bob Strauss of The Los Angeles Daily News praised Jerins' performance but criticized the other performances.[9]
References
- Nicholson, Amy. "Daisy winters review". variety.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
- Verhoeven, Beatrice. "Brooke Shields Joins Sterling Jerins in Drama 'Daisy Winters'". Thewrap.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
- "Hannover House Pacts with Daisy Force Pictures and Me Jane Productions for North American Release of Acclaimed Drama, "DAISY WINTERS"". Accesswire.com. 2017-09-13. Archived from the original on 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
- "Sterling Jerins On The Film, "Daisy Winters"". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01.
- ProVideo Coalition (2017-10-01). "Why Final Cut Pro X? A Producer's POV - Feature Film: Daisy Winters by Mike Matzdorff". ProVideo Coalition. Archived from the original on 2019-06-29. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
- "Daisy Winters (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 2017-11-26. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
- Myers, Kimber. "Daisy Winters review". www.latimes.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
- Anderson, Jeffrey M. "Daisy Winters review". www.commonsensemedia.com. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
- Bob Strauss (2017-12-01). "There's one amazing film about a bad movie to see this weekend…and 4 others that are just OK – Daily News". Dailynews.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-08. Retrieved 2020-02-06.