Berlinale 2015: Petting Zoo

Director: Micah Magee
Cast: Devon Keller, Austin Reed, Deztiny Gonzales
Length: 93 minutes
Country: Germany, Greece, USA

Petting Zoo offers up a damning critique of patriarchal society, yet whilst the central idea is pretty strong, this isn’t matched in its bland execution. It tells the story of Layla (Devon Keller), a seventeen-year old working class girl who, soon after being accepted in college, finds out she is pregnant. This is no Juno – there is no snappy dialogue or the possibility of choice. Rather, in its remarkably bleak tone, it reminded me of The Death of Mr Lazarescu. It’s a deeply sad portrayal of a broken system, where women are seen as second-class citizens, and whilst it offers a glimmer of hope at the end, it shows Texas’ gendered problems are heavily ingrained in its society.

Due to where she lives –  San Antonio, Texas – Layla needs parental consent to have an abortion. Her parents decline to give consent, telling her that she needs to live with her own decisions. She has to rebuke her college offer, and moves between shitty jobs to make it by. When she meets Danny (Kiowa Tucker), the layabout stoner who got her pregnant, his father forces her to sign a document excluding him from all responsibility. The implication is clear. Men can get off easy, whilst women – being the ones who actually have to give birth – have to deal with the difficult consequences. With no strong role models – her extended family give no advice and the school has no sex education – to look up to, Layla remains positively adrift.

Without any enduring images or scenes for me to hold onto, the film does not invite any emotion investment – which is a huge shame. This is obviously a story that needs to be told, but it needs to be told a lot better than this.

Layla remains stoic throughout, despite the bleak circumstances. She is a passive character, someone things happen to, rather than the arbitrator of her own future. This approach can work – Lars Von Triers “Golden Heart” trilogy springs to mind – but Layla has nothing interesting going for her. This is supposedly the intention of the director, yet this dullness is also compounded by the caricatured supporting cast, amounting to little more than a bunch of hillbilly stereotypes. She does engage in a romance with some guy she meets at a concert, but their scenes together are remarkably bland, offering no sense of respite or consolation.

Visually the film is uninteresting, and the dialogue instantly forgettable. Additionally, the musical choices are too off the mark, and don’t relate correctly to what is happening on screen. Whilst it does work towards a satisfying conclusion, nicely tying up the plot, there is no sense of catharsis or release. Rather it seems more like one thing happening after another. The social realist style does effectively convey the sad situation Layla is in, but the film lacks any sense of poetry to make it profound. Without any enduring images or scenes for me to hold onto,the film does not invite any emotion investment – which is a huge shame. This is obviously a story that needs to be told, but it needs to be told a lot better than this.