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Critics and audience members have reported that the protagonist of the film “Lakeland” is a curious child who, against all odds, manages to have living parents for the duration of the movie.
The film centers around Emily Foster, a precocious nine-year-old who lives in Central Florida and aspires to escape her hometown, the monotony of suburban life, and, surprisingly enough, the seemingly well-adjusted and untested dynamic of her living and happily married parents.
Foster exhibits a wry sense of humor, highly developed intelligence and an affinity for reading Roald Dahl novels under her covers by flashlight—all optimistic and endearing characteristics that are at no point tempered by the devastating death of even one of her parents at any point in the film.
“Life is full of significant challenges,” said Foster’s mother in response to her daughter’s confrontation of a playground bully, somehow failing to foreshadow her own tragic death and sparing Foster the opportunity to take the advice of her mother in the face of enormous adversity. “But what matters is how we face those challenges and use them to grow."
“Thanks, Mom, I love you,” concluded Foster, whose father was a little late coming home from work, but just because there was traffic and not because he had careened off a suspension bridge or become engulfed in flames.
