Holler

Depressing topic but just right for everything and so real and good drama and leading actress just awesome ! Nothing huge about this movie but just got its charm.

Greetings again from the darkness. Life in the Midwest rustbelt is often portrayed in movies, but rarely with the authenticity displayed in the first feature film from writer-director Nicole Riegel. These are hard-working folks who maintain hope and keep pushing through the challenges brought on by the collapse of the factory world that left generations in its wake. It's a spinoff of Ms. Riegel's own 2015 short film of the same name, and the story is inspired by her own upbringing in Ohio.

Jessica Barden stars as Ruth, a very bright high school senior who is struggling along with her dropout older brother Blaze (Gus Halper) to make ends meet while mom (Pamela Adlon, the voice of Bobby on "King of the Hill") is in jail due to opioids. Dad is out of the picture. As smart as she is, Ruth is teetering on the line of graduation since she misses so much school time while hustling the streets with her brother looking for aluminum cans to redeem, or any other way to make a few bucks. Despite their lack of funds, Blaze submitted a college application for Ruth without her knowing, and now that she's been accepted, money becomes the focus.

Desperation leads to poor decisions, and soon Ruth and Blaze are working for Hark (Austin Amelio, "The Walking Dead") the owner of a local metal scrap yard. At night, brother and sister join the crew for illegal scrapping at closed factories. It's dangerous work, but the pay is good. The dynamic between older brother Blaze and younger sister Ruth is interesting. He realizes his future looks something like what he's doing now - scratching and clawing for everything. But he sees that Ruth has a path to a brighter future and he strives to keep her focused on that.

Family is key here, and Ruth struggles with how best to deal with her mother. It takes Aunt Linda (Becky Ann Baker, A SIMPLE PLAN, 1998) to explain how Ruth's mother is a victim of the medical profession over-prescribing the pain killers that caused the downfall. In a town that's slowly dying (plants closing), and folks fighting to stay out of poverty, this situation is all too common.

Jessica Barden is memorable from her turn as the friend in HANNA (2011) and from THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD (2017), but this could be a star-making role for her. She is outstanding in much the way Jennifer Lawrence was in WINTER'S BONE (2010), although this movie isn't quite at that level. It's a star turn for Ms. Barden and an impressive debut for director Riegel, who shot in 16mm film - a rarity for indie films. The story and characters are never quite as bleak as what we expect, though the ending is a bit too predictable ... and we are happy for it. You might want to see this one if for no other reason than it's a likely career turning point for both Jessica Barden and Nicole Riegel.

OPENS IN SELECT THEATERS AND ON DEMAND/DIGITAL ON FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2021.

For making yet another good drama about the dark and dreary shadowlives of american poverty, in the year of the lord 2021. And thanks to the casting crew that has made a marvellous job finding the keyactors to this film, heir heir...

do i sound like an insider or related to the production crew, you might feel so but no, im just a grumpy old man living in norway, drowning myself into yet another pure drama of american socialrealism in situ. Its a film thats so utterly depressing, and so detailed on every spot that youll forget time and place, and with acting far over the limit of expectations, top notch musical soundtrack, and looking upon all the striving people that pays with a broken back and cut away fingers to buy a buck for one and a half because the 1 percenters decides what the price is anyway, and what shall the people of the heartland united states lean on when the corner stone factory disappears to make a nickel and a dime extra when outsourcing abroad, often moving machinery and infrastructure with it, and just leaving the skelletons back of an era that used to be good and proudly spoken of , just not where you and you live.

Its also a film about a teenagers opportunity to enter the litterates of a higher education that has become such a class diviser in the american society. The film example about scrapyarding and eventual looting valuable metal from elsewhere in the dark hours of the diurnal clock, just to survive and try to hold together and put aside money to afford the giant leap for mankind that college/university is. Call me a socialist and i may approve, but im far more reflected than that and may be quite goppy too, but thats far too advanced to elaborate for a man that hasnt got english as birth language...

but this is yet another must see film from the ''slumdistricts'' of USA, its darn realistic, its top notch acting, and just as repressive and depressive as you like it to be. Its not a rollercoaster of action, no, its just pure sensible drama, that the onepercenters deny and defy, even though its adressed to the all with capital letters. Poverty isnt the end my friend, its just a hurdle to climb across on your way to wisdome and freedome... a well made film at all levels, hereby recommended.

I enjoyed this. A very powerful performance from Jessica Barden!

This was a good movie. Coming from a holler West Virginia, it can be very hard to stay here and have a good job, especially if you live very far out, but I live very close to the Capitol. I don't understand why they keep making movies that seem to be written by people who are ignorant about the college system. You don't have to save for college, they're obviously it's a great idea and goal, but there is a lot of help especially if you come from a poor background, and there are always loans. I understand them wanting to paint a picture of a struggling young lady wanting to better herself, but please make it more realistic and uplifting to those who could better themselves who may watch this movie and assume that it's impossible.