Review: The teen drama 'Palm Trees and Power Lines' tells a searing story of abuse
by Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
Mar 03, 2023
4 minutes
When we first meet Lea (Lily McInerny), the shy, watchful 17-year-old protagonist of "Palm Trees and Power Lines," she's wandering off by herself at sunset, listening to music and losing herself in thought. Those power lines stretch out in the distance behind her, a drab symbol of American suburban anomie; in one upward-glancing shot they seem to form, briefly, the bars of a cage. Another summer is under way, and Lea has spent much of it doing the same things day after day: sunbathing, smoking, staring down at her phone, hurling clipped remarks and sullen glares at her well-meaning single mom (a warm Gretchen
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