In The Clever 'Little Joe,' Horror Is Horticultural
A plant scientist (Emily Beechum) breeds a flower that makes people happy in this "effectively creepy indie" that gets its tendrils in you.
When we meet Alice (Emily Beecham), a single mother and bio-engineer devoted to her work in the effectively creepy indie , she's busy propagating a plant whose smell will make all interested smellers happy. So far so plausible: Tampering with nature in the name of the public good — or because we can — is all the rage in life and in movies. Around Alice, apparently normal workplace stuff is going on. A pompous boss (David Wilmot)), brings her beloved dog Bello to work. For now, the only irritant in Alice's workaholic routine is the crush her colleague Chris (Ben Whishaw) nurses on her. She swats him away and comes to work in stiff shirts buttoned to the neck.
