An angry 15-year old girl living with her promiscuous Mom and foul-mouthed younger sister has nothing to do but be a juvenile delinquent, or dance. When a mother's boyfriend sees her dancing in solitude and suggests for her to audition ... no, she doesn't win a competition. In contrast, her world turns upside down, as she learns who abused her, and what she may trust as true emotion - the hard way. Contains many lingering moments, but I found a little girl falling into a river, and our heroine pulling her out into a fierce hug, the most disturbing.
(PS: This BAFTA, Cannes, Chicago, London, and Edinburgh award winner was on the top 10 lists of a few critics for 2010, and Ebert called it one of the top 10 art films of last year.)
Mo says:
It's a grim film.
ReplyDeleteThe story is played out every day in every town.
Her mother was useless but there are far worse. What chance do kids have growing up in circumstances like that?
Thanks, it's one of those films I would never have seen without MoBlog.
Spoiler Alert!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how it demonstrated the boyfriend was only trying to use the girl; while at the end, she dances with the mother (showing the mother's presumed indifference toward the girl's departure was actually a way of ignoring her own pain), and the sister curses her and says goodbye in tears. They were a real family - they just didn't want to admit it.
Or how at first glance the girl was such a low-life, but she couldn't get the thought of freeing the horse out of her head, or refused to audition for the strip joint. She may look like a low-life, but she would never stoop that low. She had dignity. Beautiful moments.
You're very welcome; I'm glad the recommendation worked.
I enjoyed the end but I did not like the guy... couldn't stand him...
ReplyDelete