Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tunenut (A) on October 20, 2016 at 10:17:54

I really liked Fish Tank, an earlier work from this director. This one has a big similarity, in that it follows a fairly lost teenage girl from an impoverished environment. The earlier movie is in a British council estate, while this one goes bigger and covers a big swath of the American Midwest.

The girl sees a van full of ragged youths in her local store, is intrigued and in short order leaves on the van with them as a worker on a magazine crew. This is a real thing. Groups of kids go door to door, ostensibly selling magazines, but actually trying to extract money by begging or conning or whatever it takes. They verge on criminals but are also victims, as their crew leader (sleazily played by Elvis Presley's granddaughter) takes 80% off the top.

Well it's a long meandering trip through Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota. Almost 3 hours. The kids go to sell in rich suburbs, truck stops, oil fields and poor country towns. There is no real story arc, it's just mostly a character study of the young girl, who has a good heart, but also will,do what she needs to do to survive.

It's not for everyone. I liked it as a nice change from the summer action stuff, for a character driven road trip, for the American landscapes and most of all for the music. There is a constant flow of music, from country to rock and lots of rap, and the kids seem to come alive when they all start singing together.