BY WILL VAN OVERBEEK

Last month, Electrick Children had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Which is pretty remarkable when you consider that the film’s writer/director, Rebecca Thomas, is still in film school and Electrick Children is her first feature. Even more remarkable is that Thomas didn’t even start writing the script until last April, which means barely 11 months passed between the moment she first put pen to paper (or finger to iPad) and when her movie opened at one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. If Thomas weren’t so nice, I would hate her with great enthusiasm.

Electrick Children is a modern-day retelling of the Virgin Mary story set in a small fundamentalist Mormon colony in rural Utah. Thomas’ story follows Rachel (the brilliant Julia Garner), a 15-year-old innocent who believes God has caused her to immaculately conceive a child by way of a rock song she hears on a forbidden cassette tape. Convinced that the voice on the tape is the father of the child, Rachel sneaks off to Las Vegas in search of love and religious revelation.

“I was raised in Las Vegas, in a normal Mormon upbringing,” Thomas says. “But my grandparents lived in southern Utah, and we would visit them and see the FLDS [Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints]. I was intrigued by it because I had seen it my whole life and wondered about the places where Mormonism and fundamentalism overlapped. I really wanted to adapt the Virgin Mary story, and I thought if there was ever a girl who thought she had gotten pregnant by God or by some force, it would probably be someone from one of these sheltered places.”

Writer/director Rebecca Thomas

Thomas wrote the screenplay for Electrick Children after her second year at the Columbia University School of the Arts. She and her producer, Jessica Caldwell, also a Columbia student, had planned to shoot the film on a microbudget simply for the experience, but after producer Richard Neustadter expressed interest in Thomas’ screenplay, Electrick Children suddenly had a real budget and access to a casting director. Soon, Billy Zane (Titanic), Cynthia Watros (Lost), and Rory Culkin (You Can Count on Me) were onboard.

To capture the hidden life of a notoriously secretive and suspicious sect, Thomas visited several polygamist colonies in Utah. She wanted to translate, without judgment, the rituals of a group that has been plagued in recent years by allegations of widespread, even institutional, abuse of children and women. Though the plot of Electrick Children hinges on the forced marriage of a minor, Thomas says she was more interested in exploring faith through the eyes of a believer than in debating the more controversial religious practices of the FLDS.

“The movie is subjective; it’s told through Rachel’s eyes, and I don’t think she can see the controversial things,” Thomas says. “As the audience, since you’re in her POV, you can feel that there’s something else going on, but you still remain in her subjective view believing this thing really happened, but she never really gets into the details of it. She just accepts this thing and goes with it.

“I want people to think about the repercussions of faith in a good light and in a negative light. I want there to be a conversation. I want to keep my mind open. I love existence and I love talking about it. I love thinking about faith and what it means and if there’s something else out there or if it’s just us. That’s something that haunts me, and I’m sure you’ll see more movies from me about it.”

Electrick Children

A contempo nativity story in which the Holy Ghost seemingly impregnates a Mormon girl through a cover of Jack Lee/Blondie’s incomparable tune, “Hanging on the Telephone,” “Electrick Children” reps a sweet slice of indie quirk. Although the script for writer-helmer Rebecca Thomas’ debut feature feels as if it’s been overworked by one too many screenwriting workshops, confident helming and a charming young cast, especially lead Julia Garner, make pic as the irresistibly fizzy as a sachet of Pop Rocks. Low-wattage names attached will confine this to niche distribution, but it reps a crackling calling card for all involved.Reflecting the helmer’s personal knowledge of Mormon rituals, the opening scene shows Rachel (Garner) being interviewed about her chastity and beliefs by her pastor father, Paul (Billy Zane), on her 15th birthday. The prairie-style outfits and the fact that Rachel has never seen a tape recorder before suggest the pic might be taking place in the recent past. In fact, her lack of familiarity with such old-fangled technology is merely evidence of the modernity-shunning values of the tiny, ultra-conservative community in which she and her family live.

Eager to hear what her own voice sounds like on tape, Rachel, who has a latent wild streak, sneaks into the forbidden basement where the recorder is kept and finds an unmarked blue cassette. She puts it on and hears a punchy cover version of “Hanging on the Telephone,” sung by a man. Rachel so entranced she doesn’t notice her slightly older brother, Will (Liam Aiken), entering the room to tell her off. Their mother, Gay Lynn (Cynthia Watros), finds them grappling over the tape on the floor, and suspects Will erroneously of attempted rape.

Later, Rachel is found to be pregnant. She insists that it was the voice on the tape that knocked her up, but Gay Lynn tearfully reports on what she saw that fateful night. Plans are made to marry Rachel off immediately to another boy, and Will is expelled from the community in shame. Refusing to comply, Rachel steals the family pickup truck and drives to Las Vegas, only to find that Will was hiding in the truck’s flatbed.

In Vegas, Rachel naively sets out to track down the singer, while Will tags along, determined to get her to prove his innocence. They fall in with a gaggle of grungy kids who live in what looks like a dorm, although they spend more time playing abrasive post-punk rock, drinking and skateboarding than going to classes. One boy (Rory Culkin, adorably goofy) takes a shine to the guileless Rachel, who dives eagerly into this new scene, while even Will starts to feel seduced by the lure of degenerate contempo life.

Last act arguably serves up too many magical coincidences, but such sleight of scriptural hand may be forgivable in a story where characters fervently believe God actively shapes their destinies. Besides, Thomas directs with such blithe grace and elegant pacing, and the thesps are so darn cute, any sins are easily forgivable. Even the adult, peripheral characters reveal interesting depths, especially Watros, and the pic’s portrait of the Mormon community is neither proselytizing nor patronizing.

Garner, however, reps the pic’s real secret weapon. Last seen in a small but vivid supporting role in “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” and also cast in the upcoming “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” the young thesp, with her blond curls and wide-set, intelligent eyes, is simply magnetic throughout here. Her Rachel is a perpetually endearing combination of Judy Holliday-style innocence and native street smarts.

Production design and location work establish a strong sense of place, especially in the Vegas section, without resorting too many neon-light cliches. Elsewhere, tech credits are pro, and the soundtrack is a consistent pleasure, especially Flowers Forever’s rousing version of the pic’s key song.