As we’re guided through childhood by our parents, we often believe that they have all the answers we would ever need about how to navigate life. They can gain access to things we can’t, explain concepts that elude us, make food appear on demand, and comfort us when needed. It’s not until we creep toward adolescence and eventually adulthood that we realize our parents didn’t necessarily have all of the answers to everything.
Often times, we even find out that knew much less than even we realized. Fairyland is the film adaptation of the memoir of the same name by Alysia Abbott, portrayed onscreen by Emilia Jones. We meet Alysia as she moves to San Francisco to live with her father Steve (Scoot McNairy), just after the death of her mother in a car accident in 1973. Steve is a poet and an activist who’s gay, bohemian lifestyle clashes with his newfound custodial parentage. As Alysia grows up, their bond is constantly tested.
Fairyland is a film about self-realization; not just for its young, lead character but also for her father. In a sense, Alysia and Steve raise each other, Steve in the typical parental way and Alysia by helping Steve learn how to be a responsible parent through having to guide her along a productive path. It’s a rocky road as Alysia comes to crave a more traditional, typical upbringing with more structure and less freedom, as children who have less strict parents are wont to do, but as she ages and learns more about the world, Alysia realizes how tough things were for her father as he navigated being a single parent and trying to live as an out gay man.
The chemistry between McNairy, Jones, and Nessa Dougherty who plays young Alysia makes these trials and tribulations between father and daughter believable and one the audience can empathize with. We feel Alysia’s frustration at times but can also sympathize with Steve when he’s clearly trying his best. The need for Alysia to extend grace to Steve is something many will be able to relate to in their own complicated relationship with a parent or parents, making Fairyland a film that is emotionally resonant. The film is well acted and well paced with the chronology of Alysia’s maturity and growth feeling natural and real, aiding the story itself. Fairyland is a sweet film that portrays the beautiful complications that family can be.
