Anna (Jodie Whittaker) is having a terrible, no good, very bad week. She's about to turn 30 and her mom wants her out of the backyard shed before her birthday. Her friend is back from a jaunt around the world, and a pesky young kid in a cowboy costume won't go away. Plus, she has spiders in her bed and her bra is in the microwave. In her debut feature "Adult Life Skills," writer/director Rachel Tunnard has nailed being on the verge of the big three-oh and feeling like you haven't quite gotten the whole "grown-up" thing down.
"We should get a badge for adult life skills," Anna's strange old school pal Brendan (Brett Goldstein) mentions, "like changing a tire, knitting, sending something back in a restaurant." It's very true, and it's dialogue like this that is emblematic of Tunnard's funny and poignant film, which is a lot like the characters that populate its cozy English landscape: chatty and charming and sometimes a bit aimless.
Of course, there is something more tragic behind Anna's quirks and peccadilloes and her seeming inability to grow up or move on beyond the childish wardrobe and behavior that drives her mother batty. She makes videos with her thumbs and scrolls an old website every night _ the online home of the humorous videos she made with her twin brother, who is no longer around. The videos are juvenile, raunchy and look like tons of fun to have made. It's obvious Anna is in arrested development. It's also obvious that she's in mourning, and that the two things are inextricably linked.
There are lots of films about adults who lack life skills, about adults who can't grow up because of tragedy, inexperience or whatever in their life has told them adulthood is a raw deal. "Adult Life Skills" slots easily into the genre, with a quirky protagonist and cast of characters, and an element of fantasy and escapism that pervades the proceedings.
But where the film stands out is in the tones of deep, resonant truth that ring out throughout the script, whether it's discussing badges for practical life skills or Anna lamenting that growing older means she's less and less the person she was with her brother _ silly, creative, unabashed, confident.
While "Adult Life Skills" could often use a little bit of a direction, it digs deep to achieve a real sense of catharsis, and Whittaker (currently The Doctor on "Doctor Who") carries the film in this role about a woman who's trying to be invisible, but can't isolate herself forever. She has to learn to receive help, work with others and find the playful parts of herself that still exist. In the end, those are the skills that really get you through this life.
