Unicorn Store
Brie Larson’s feature directorial debut, Unicorn Store, has more style than substance, but a charming lead performance and important message buoy it.
The offbeat , impulsive coming - of - age comedyUnicorn Storefirst premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival before finding a dispersion home with Netflix . The streaming service of process has made a name in Hollywood for its feature film film strategy , releasing a form of movies that range from high visibility acquisitions likeThe Cloverfield Paradoxto major fare of their own likeBird BoxandRoma . However , whileUnicorn Storeis a comparatively smaller movie in terms of Netflix ’s release slating , it comes with a few giving names attached . Brie Larson ’s lineament directorial debut , Unicorn Store , has more manner than substance , but a charming spark advance public presentation and important content buoy it .
Unicorn Storestars Larson as Kit , an imaginative charwoman who fails out of art shoal when a minimalist professor does n’t appreciate her too colourful and vivacious work . Kit returns home to her female parent and sire - Gladys ( Joan Cusack ) and Gene ( Bradley Whitford ) - where she feels like a dashing hopes , especially as her parent rave about Kevin ( Karan Soni ) , a humanity Kit ’s age who works at their outdoor encampment . In an exertion to establish she can be successful , Kit gets a temporary worker job at a public relations company . But Kit ’s aliveness is shortly changed when she ’s invite to " The Store " , where she meets The Salesman ( Samuel L. Jackson ) who offers to sell her a unicorn - though there are a few requirements first .
Putting aside the overly ridiculous , though arguably necessary frame-up of an art student fail out of graphics school for beingtoocreative , Unicorn Store’soffbeat premiss largely works in terms of walk a fine line between reality and fantasy . Though , this credit line gets incredibly mussy at times . The history deal to balance the more strange panorama of the taradiddle - outfit hiring a man , Virgil ( Mamoudou Athie ) , to build her a unicorn stable - with a parallel spark of her aliveness at the office . However , the movie works well when Kit is forced to confront the fantastic ideas of her imaginativeness and figure out how they can fit into the realness of her life . The disparity between Kit working to achieve her puerility phantasy while also launch her " get up " life is where the film come up its coming - of - age news report , though some of its electronic messaging about growing up is a bit overly obvious .
Unicorn Storedoes a batch of notification , rather than showing , how Kit grows up and the object lesson she learns along the way : you ca n’t buy happiness , nonstarter is n’t a sign of immaturity , etc . Along those lines , Unicorn Storeseems to have a nifty deal to say about grow up as an artist and not sacrificing your voice to appease those around you , but often it come across as the movie being more focused on its messaging than telling a good , well - developed floor . To be sealed , the message ofUnicorn Storeis important , and with a script by Samantha McIntyre ( Married ) , the film brings a much - needed female position to the coming - of - age genre . outfit is no doubt a character many women can relate to on some storey , as she ’s force to give up the " girly " inspiration of her youth for a more unbent - lace life . However , Unicorn Storeis still incredibly trivial in its depiction of Kit and her coming - of - age story .
The main reasonUnicorn Storeworks as well as it does is the performances of the main cast , Larson in particular . She care to ground Kit in a way that feel realistic , even as it becomes more and more difficult to confine onto that suspension of disbelief that a big woman could believe unicorn exist . Still , Larson is charming enough to get away with it , and she pack Kit ’s bow well . Further , she works well across from each of her carbon monoxide gas - stars , Jackson in particular , who exit much more whimsical than usual as The Salesman . It ’s an incredibly playfulness performance from Jackson and aid sell the flick ’s more fantastic side . TheUnicorn Storecast is rounded out well by Cusack and Whitford , while Athie is a wonderful match for Larson on screen in term of appealingness .
Ultimately , Unicorn Storeis far from a quintessential come up - of - age story , but it does declare oneself enough of a raw twist on the genre to be entertaining . Further , anyone who ’s feel like they had to sacrifice creativeness for success will find a relatable admirer in Larson ’s Kit . Unicorn Storeisn’t likely to be one of Netflix ’s gaolbreak hits , but the low barrier of entry afforded to pic by being on one of the most democratic pelt services will no doubt think more people are unforced to suss out it out . To be trusted , Unicorn Storeis worth seeing for those already interested , but its offbeat premise and laboured - handed introduction of a coming - of - age level mean it is n’t necessarily a must - determine Netflix movie .
Trailer
Unicorn Storeis now available for streaming on Netflix . It is 92 minutes long .
Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson in Unicorn Store
