Movies about children living in dysfunctional families usually show a very realistic story with the most unsightly sides, from which you always want to look away. Phoenix, on the other hand, surprises 13-year-old Yill and her younger brother Bo with elements of “magical realism.” What you see on the poster above the bed will move from time to time, like vines wrapping around your body while you sleep. There are other eerie and, on the contrary, too unexpected in its beauty scenes of the film.
"Magic Realism" bursts onto the screen from the inner world of Yill and Bo, who are worried about their mother with serious psychological problems that prevent her from living and working normally. Yill lives invincible, like Phoenix, with the hope that their family will get better. That my mother would go to work and stop taking anyone home. That the father she wants to see more often will come to her for her birthday.
The father does come - his arrival and gifts suddenly change the face of the film - as if one, only one fulfilled wish of a child has already painted the world around in bright colors. But that’s how it should be every day – you clearly understand when an irritated father walks through this always uncomfortable apartment the next day and when you realize that the birthday has passed and the next holiday is still very far away.
In the last scene, Yill seems to set aside his hopeful Phoenix. She hugs Bo like she's taking their lives into her own hands. Now she will be a Phoenix herself, capable of being reborn after any life drama.