This one is for all the rabid Orphan Black lovers out there (like me). Or maybe it’s not. Maybe they’ve already found this film and devoured it like all things Tatiana Maslany. So maybe this is for everyone else.
A couple of years ago, before the Clone Club, I saw a little Canadian film at the Toronto International Film Festival, 2012. It was fun, it was well written, and it starred a young actress who caught my eye. I remember saying to Beth, “We should get Tatiana Maslany to come to Chlotrudis for the Breakout Award. I think she’s going to go places.” Well, it wasn’t many months later that Orphan Black hit the scene and the rest his history. Tatiana Maslany was a cult favorite, rapidly gaining wider and wider audiences. But back in 2012, she starred in a terrific, complex, teen comedy/drama called PICTURE DAY.
Claire (Maslany) was a bad ass in high school, but now she’s repeating her senior year and she’s become something of a joke. She’s hanging around Henry, a nerdy freshman that she used to babysit, who now has a hopeless crush on her, with a goal of making him into a mysterious, hip rebel. Her success with Henry throws his life into a turmoil, but her own life isn’t much better off. With a mother who barely notices her, and an 33-year-old rocker-wanna-be boyfriend who’s clearly not in Claire as much as he’s into the adoration of young groupies, Claire’s work with Henry is really the only things that’s going well – at least in her mind. Clearly, Claire’s is being set up for some tough life lessons, which are delivered in a way that isn’t heavy-handed, a credit to writer/director Kate Melville’s skill as a flimmaker. But it’s Tatiana Maslany, who shines in PICTURE DAY. Clearly just a taste of what was to arrive less than a year later on the small screen.