With very few changes, it could become one of those inspirational faith-based movies, where the departed is an angel (and it gets close, as she’s named Angie and writes a piano instrumental called “Angel”). But perhaps hoping for a wider audience, it generally avoids religion for something more popular.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I had this dream. One day I’d become a superhero in my very own fairytale,” Angie declares more than once. “I could fly, be invisible and save the world.”
After the crash, she realizes, “What if this is the moment, the chance to become the superhero I dreamed about? All I have to figure out is how to save the world.”
Her actions prove what a small world she lives in – Rather than indulging in global conflicts, she tinkers with parent/child relations of people she knows. And while she’s not strictly an angel, she’s even less a superhero — a term probably used to lure the much wider audience for that overdone genre.
But there’s no capes here, no flying. The young Angie fixes things sometimes in person, and sometimes invisibly. In that role, Emma Kennedy does a good job in what is apparently her first big role (she was Student #2 in “The Politician” previously).
Icelandic actor Darri Ingolffsson, who played the murderer Oliver Saxon in the final season of “Dexter,” plays the dad, who is meant to be an unsuccessful songwriter but nonetheless lives in a roomy loft in L.A.
The most recognizable faces are those of the grandparents, Joanna Cassidy and Bruce Davison, who both have relatively minor roles worrying about the girl.
The youthful cast that includes Juliana Destefano, Morgan Lindholm and BJ Mitchell, are mostly fine in scenes structured for maximum soap opera drama. But the cinematography by Pablo Diez is notable, getting the most of each shot.
There’s nothing too off-putting about “My True Fairytale,” which may prove for some audiences as uplifting a film that you could get out of a fatal crash (The filmmaker’s own daughter, Alyssa, is seen in pictures during the closing credits).
“My True Fairytale” premiered on major streaming platforms April 10.