WANDERLAND | Omeleto Drama

A young girl searches for her alcoholic mother.
WANDERLAND is used with permission from Nicole Pott. Learn more at nicolepott.com.
Alice is seemingly by herself at a gambling establishment, playing with the machines and getting antsy. But the little girl is not alone -- she's been waiting for her mother Tracy, who finally scoops her up. Together they go for a ride into the night and end up sleeping in the car before they drop Alice off for school.
This is the usual routine for Alice and Tracy, with the little girl adapting often to her mother's unstable whims and moods. But one night, when her mother is trying to pick up a date to buy them dinner, Alice wanders too far -- and risks separating from her mother more permanently.
Written and directed by Nicole Pott, this BAFTA-longlisted short drama is a portrait of a little girl who often falls to the margins of her young mother's life as they grapple with homelessness, alcoholism and poverty. Shot almost like a documentary, with hand-held camera and naturalistic lighting, viewers get the sense of Alice's life unfolding, with the wide-eyed, non-judgmental perspective of a child who accepts life as it is.
The storytelling oscillates between small moments of dream-like reverie with pockets of chaos fueled by increasingly desperate poverty and erratic parenting. With Alice as the focus, we only know as much as Alice does at the film's beginning. But as the narrative moves forward and the pieces accumulate, we start to understand the family unit as a whole, from Tracy's professed, almost desperate love for her child to her immaturity as a parent. The film's gift is how it never loses sight of Alice through the chaos: we see how easygoing, even docile the young child is, and how innocently accepting she is of her mother's harsh words, manipulation and neglect. This gentle perspective makes the accumulative impression all the more heartbreaking.
Young performer Holly Hajbok holds the screen as Alice, existing entirely at the moment and reacting to each event of neglect with compelling openness. As her mother Tracy, actor Haylie Jones offers a brave, unvarnished performance as a young woman who likely became a parent too young and is ill-equipped to cope with what appears to be a growing number of problems. The film remains non-judgmental of mother and child, and even highlights the moments of kindness and beauty found in their seaside town. But the atmosphere grows increasingly bleak, as Alice loses sight of her mother and unknowingly faces the possibility of discovery and separation.
WANDERLAND is a complex yet clear-eyed portrait of childhood neglect, both soft in its innocence and quietly heart-wrenching in its evocation of life at the margins of society. Its impact lingers well after the film's conclusion, haunting viewers with delicately posed yet thought-provoking questions. Would Alice be better off separated from her mother? Does Tracy wake up to the impact of her decisions on her young daughter? Will Alice be okay as she grows up? There are no concrete answers, only a poignant sorrow for a little girl swirling in the unpredictable currents of life, tethered to solidity with only the most fragile of threads.

[@frostyperma4789]

The little girl is a talented actress

[@eg1197]

This is so sad and the reality-based that homelessness faced daily. Excellent film. Well done.

[@BiancaVie]

This is what not doing what’s in the best interest of your child really looks like

[@marylevin9262]

💔

[@MTCali1970]

Acting in roles like this must also be traumatizing to the actors.

[@Loraarts_]

One of my favorite short film

[@marita2007aus]

I feel angry, very very angry. That woman puts her child at risk on so many different levels. There is no excuse, especially with addictions of choice.. Help is always available for the woman, and for the child. Shame on her.

[@TheKazadoodle]

There is no such thing as addiction by choice - Addiction is defined as not having control over doing, taking or using something to the point where it could be harmful to you.

[@marita2007aus]

@@TheKazadoodle The choice was to start (often knowing it can become an addiction) and to continue. And, if ''not having control'" means that NO ONE with an addiction can ever be cured.

[@TheKazadoodle]

@@marita2007aus addicts are never cured, they are sober (but still addicts) and not giving in to their addiction. Did they make that choice to start? Maybe. No one thinks they will become an addict - no one

[@marita2007aus]

@@TheKazadoodle I don't agree with what you said. It seems you're referring only to alcohol, perhaps from 'a personal perspective. I am commenting as a clinician

[@CM-li6yd]

@@marita2007ausyou are a clinician?

[@fosholyfe6115]

You couldn't walk away from the police like that in USA 😢

[@rosasalvati9055]

It's too sad...