The most effective and lasting element of Gregg Araki’s (The Doom Generation) new film—his first in four years—is Shailene Woodley, who effortlessly imparts a searing reality that clashes inharmoniously with everything else. White Bird in a Blizzard actually feels like two films in one, with Shailene playing against the off-kilter, over the top world of her parents (played in way too broad strokes by Christopher Meloni and Eva Green). The final result is lopsided and inconsistent at best.
Woodley portrays a high school teen whose mother (Green) suddenly goes missing one day, after months and years of increasingly bizarre behavior. The bizarre part, though, is how surprised she is about it, since the film slowly reveals just how comically insane her mother became. The major problems in this film’s tone are not helped by cliché supporting performances by (the miscast) Gabourey Sibide and Thomas Jane. On the upside, don’t miss a sexy and dazed Shiloh Fernandez (Evil Dead) as dangerous love interest Phil.