Screened as part of NZIFF 2005

Thumbsucker 2004

Directed by Mike Mills

Lou Pucci took the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival for his performance in this gentle satire of suburban family angst. He plays 17-year-old Justin Cobb, who tries half-heartedly to ‘fix’ his oral obsession by replacing it with a host of interesting alternatives, including Ritalin.

USA In English
96 minutes CinemaScope

Director

Screenplay

Mike Mills. Based on the novel by Walter Kirn

Photography

Joaquín Baca-Asay

Editors

Angus Wall
,
Haines Hall

Music

Tim DeLaughter
,
The Polyphonic Spree

With

Lou Taylor Pucci
,
Tilda Swinton
,
Vince Vaughn
,
Vincent D’Onofrio
,
Keanu Reeves
,
Benjamin Bratt

Festivals

Sundance, Berlin 2005

Awards

Best Actor, Lou Taylor Pucci, Berlin 2005

Elsewhere

Lou Pucci took the Best Actor Award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival for his performance in this gentle satire of suburban family angst. He plays 17-year-old Justin Cobb who tries half-heartedly to ‘fix’ his oral obsession by replacing it with a host of interesting alternatives, including Ritalin. “The often-moving story captures a family trying to figure things out – kids and parents alike question who they are. Mills' trademark affection for the fluidity and openness of adolescence is evident; the music, most of it by The Polyphonic Spree, is terrific; and there are visual quirks, too… But the film… is remarkable mainly in the way it reveals just how much Mills wants to find a way to communicate the minor epiphanies that help us comprehend what's real, what’s important.” — Holly Willis, Res 

Thumbsucker has the gentle off-kilter charm of early Cameron Crowe [Say Anything], or the late indie rocker Elliott Smith, who contributed to the soundtrack… Keanu Reeves redefines himself as the thumbsucker's hugely amusing New Age dentist, and Tilda Swinton is luminous as the hero's mom.” — Tim Appelo, Seattle Weekly