Babyteeth

Name: Babyteeth
Director: Shannon Murphy
Released: 2020

Synopsis

A terminally ill teen upsets her parents when she falls in love with a small-time drug dealer.

90
Variety
Babyteeth works best as an abrasive four-hander, though Murphy’s limber, sensually electric direction leaves the film with little clear evidence of its theatrical origins.
88
Chicago Tribune
Murphy isn't afraid to play with color and light and text and music, or to let her characters dance like no one is watching, and often. That energy, embodied in the filmmaking and in the performances, is what puts this coming-of-age film into a class all its own.
83
IndieWire
Babyteeth is the kind of soft-hearted tearjerker that does everything in its power to rescue beauty from pain.
83
The Playlist
Given the subject matter, it’s difficult not to stray into mawkishness of some kind. But even with mistakes, the power of the main narrative is hard to erode.
75
The Film Stage
Like the ramshackle family it so fondly depicts, Babyteeth is not without its flaws but it does suggest a confident new voice in independent cinema.
75
Slant Magazine
It incorporates addiction, age-inappropriate romance, mental illness, and terminal disease into its plot without collapsing into a movie-of-the-week black hole.
70
Screen Daily
Babyteeth is a funny, affecting group portrait, a comedy-tinged family drama.
68
TheWrap
Does it all work? Not quite, but you can’t fault a film for its ambition, least of all one that does manage to bring it all together for a deeply moving home stretch.