Porcupines

In this delightfully droll debut from Fabriczki, a quirky mother and daughter find their footing in Los Angeles as the latter gradually learns the truth of their origins. When Sonia drops her daughter Mila off for her first day of elementary school in 1996, she instructs her in what to say: “We live about a five minutes’ drive away, your mother works at an office, and you’re not Russian.” Sonia, who buys American goods for resale in Eastern Europe, rarely discusses her early life. Despite their closeness, Mila knows nothing of her mother’s upbringing or her father’s identity. Five years later, Mila finds out her mother regularly emails a man named Anthony, and she hatches a scheme to meet him during a fifth grade band trip to San Francisco. She has no idea that her mom’s history with Anthony started when 18-year-old Sonia, then Szonja, flew from her native Hungary to California to spend the summer with her married sister, Rina. Szonja and her sister have little in common, and, feeling like a scolded child in her home, Szonja pulls away. The charm here is in Fabriczki’s character work, which takes on increasing depth as she alternates between 2001 and chapters focused on Szonja in 1989, slowly revealing what led to Sonia’s life as a single mother. This sharp-witted immigrant story is full of surprises. Agent: Rebecca Gradinger, UTA. (Apr.)