Roadside Attractions
In a World…, a smart girl-power movie starring, and written and directed by Lake Bell, is literally about our heroine’s defining (Saturn) her own voice (Mercury).
Carol (Bell) is a speech and vocal coach, whose dream is to make it big as voice-over artist. Her surname is different from that of her father, Sam (Fred Melamed), the reigning voice-of-God talent in the movie-trailer voice-over segment of the industry – the same niche category that Carol aspires to. The inspirational words at the start of the movie couldn’t be clearer: “A voice is not only a blessing – it’s a choice.” And Carol has made hers.
Sam, who’s about to receive a prestigious industry award and is in a generous mood, wants to pass his proverbial golden-voiced torch to fellow v/o artist Gustav Werner (Ken Marino). Sam figures he’ll accomplish this by not auditioning for the hottest gig of the moment, which will decide the vocal signature of the trailers for a female-empowering “quadrilogy” of films. By not competing, Sam – his license plate reads “Annunc8” – is convinced Gustav will get the gig, thereby preserving the sexist proclivities the old boys’ network.
It never occurs to Sam that Carol is talented in her own right who could use some fatherly support. Instead, Dad adheres to a rules-bound (Saturn), conservative (Saturn) mentality (Mercury), a more restrictive and backwards use of the Mercury-Saturn archetype embraced by Carol.
Adding depth to the serious issues explored in In a World… are Jamie (Alexandra Holden), Sam’s much younger girlfriend who’s a lot smarter and more reflective than she appears, and a movie executive (Geena Davis) whose braggart pragmatism suggests that women can wreak the same havoc as men when wielding power in a male-populated industry.
Astrology Film Rating: ☿♄ (Mercury, Saturn)
