Pills, perfect suburban homes, and a family that appears fine and proper is modern cinema's formula for disaster. The dysfunctional family fueled by teen tenants loaded with angst has become the mirror that society holds to its collective face in the ongoing effort to appear flawless. Middle class Americans aren't supposed to have problems. They aren't supposed to suffer. But, of course, everybody does. This message has become so common as to almost be trite. Enter Thumbsucker - a beautiful new film by Mike Mills, adapted from the novel by Walter Kirn, that takes this familiar story and mines it to greater emotional depths, resulting in fresh insights.

It's troublesome enough to be a teenager without sucking your thumb, but 17 year-old Justin Cobb (Lou Pucci - Best Actor at Berlin International Film Festival 2005) still resorts to this infantile gesture during times of stress. His emotionally absent parents Mike and Audrey (Vincent D'Onofrio and Tilda Swinton) never realize that they are contributing to Justin's embarrassing habit. Still waiting to grow up, Mike wants his children to call him by his first name so he doesn't feel old by being called "Dad", and Audrey is too busy revelling in her crush on a television actor (a comic turn by Benjamin Bratt) to pay attention to the needs of her family. Younger brother Joel remains mostly hidden from his relatives by motives that later shed light on the family's dynamics.

The only person to understand that psychological duress is behind Justin's thumbsucking is his hippie, nature-boy, guru orthodontist Perry, played with comic relish by Keanu Reeves. Perry, acting as therapist with new-age ideas that extend his services far beyond that of a traditional ortho, suggest that Justin try hypnosis as a cure. It helps initially, but as it wears off, Justin's manic behavior leads to his diagnosis of ADHD. The Ritalin pills act as a quick fix, and Justin suddenly finds himself excelling in school, debate team in particular. Highly motivated and surpassing the intellectual capacity of peers, parents, and teachers, Justin thrives and peaks, which, of course, then leads to his eventual downfall. Justin's crush on school mate Rebecca, causes him to venture into more physically and emotionally treacherous territory than pharmaceuticals or thumbsucking.

Pucci, through the gentle and smart direction of Mills, captures the uncertainty and vulnerablility of a teenager with precision. Hesitancy, self-doubt, confusion, muffled joy, and the spark of genius register so naturally on Justin's face, that one gets the impression of Pucci truly inhabiting his character. Being new to the Hollywood scene has caused Pucci to reflect on his character Justin saying, "I am living the life of the person I'm playing right now, sort of. There are a lot of things I can completely relate to. I really understand what it's like to be leaving home, when it's the only place that you know, and to be looking for answers in all these different places." Pucci's performance is the finest I've seen this year among young actors.

Dallas' Polyphonic Spree orchestrates the mood of the film with a soundtrack that is mournfully angelic. Mirroring the spiraling depression of characters one moment and then turning up the volume in triumphant inspiration the next, Spree's Tim DeLaughter captures the universal feeling of searching for our true selves, recognizing the weaknesses and limitations of family and authority figures, and promotes Mills' vision that our flaws are acceptable. Perfection is just a facade that will crumble over time like a weakly constructed home in the suburbs.

Sad and inspiring, humorous and dramatic, ugly and beautiful, defeated yet hopeful. Such is the dichotomy of life as a teen. Following in the footsteps of such films as American Beauty and The Chumscrubber, Thumbsucker dissects family dynamics to reveal that the parents are children and the children are trying to grow up quickly and find themselves, often by "adult" means. Popping pills, having sex, getting married, and starting a family in order to feel wanted are all simply ways of masking wounds that should be nurtured with honest discussion and acceptance of flaws. The sooner we do this the better. Otherwise, we might look regretfully at each other one day, as Mike does with Justin before he leaves, and say, "I was just getting used to you."

Grade: A-

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