A single mom Lyn and her daughter Iona moved to a new village. Lyn, who is unsociable and bad-tempered, did not get along with the village people, but Iona is busy making friends at her new school. Like twins, the two sleep together in bed, but Iona drifts apart from her mom after getting obsessed with fantasy over reality and being sexually aware. In particular, Lyn becomes the odd one out when she can’t understand her adolescent daughter’s deviation, and shows regressive behaviors like sucking on a pacifier, or imitating a cat. In the end, Lyn makes an extreme choice in front of the friends harassing Iona. The film isn’t director Deborah Haywood’s autobiographical story, but it seems like a recount of her experience by delicately portraying the adolescent daughter’s sentiments and pains. The film was actually filmed at a school in director’s hometown, Swadincote, England. Lily Newmark acted the role of Iona who easily gets hurt, and her shy paleness or dreamy expression is similar to that of Sissy Spacek who enthusiastically acted in director Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976). Haywood’s Pin Cushion portrays the sad fable of a morbid mother and daughter who became obsessive and fell into their own world. This is an impressive debut film that reminds of Jane Campion’s Sweetie (1989) or Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures (1994). (JEON Jong-hyuk)