From one
kind of desperation to a very different kind. Sometimes fear and desperation
come with big fanfare, like in the case of the tsunami. You see it coming a
mile away, you know your options – live or die – and brace yourself for its
impact. Sometimes though, it creeps up on you like a mist. It first slowly
closes one alleyway, then the other, until you have nowhere left to turn. Once
you realise it has crept up on you it is far too late, you are left with only one real option. Do something desperate, one way or
another, to live… Or die…
This is
pretty much the situation Ray Eddie (Melissa Leo) finds herself one morning, a week before Christmas.
Her husband Troy, a gambling addict who had been clean for 32 months has
vanished along with the cash that was meant as a down payment on their new
house. She has two children to take care of, the 15 year old, headstrong TJ and
little Ricky who’s only preoccupation is what he will get for Christmas. His
odds aren’t looking good to be honest; Ray can barely provide them with three square
meals, much less Christmas presents. It is precisely at this rather desperate
point in her life that she crosses paths with Lila Littlewolf. Lila lives on
the Mohawk reservation not far from their home. The two women are not exactly
on amicable terms at first but soon they realise that they have more in common
than was first apparent. Lila seemingly has something Ray desperately needs –
an easy way of making money… At first, all Ray really wants is to get enough
money to secure the new house they have just lost. But as is often the case
with these things, once you get mixed up, there really is no easy way out again…
Ok, I LOVE
the way this film describes how desperation pushes people to crime. I love the
slow creeping of the desperation and the hunger for things to go right. A lot
of this kind of film tends to contain some kind of big, dramatic event –
sickness, someone dying, you know the sort I mean, fireworks. True to life, Ray’s
demons are mostly bills. The fact that she has to give her sons popcorn and
fruit juice for breakfast as there is nothing else left in the house to eat.
The fact that her husband has just vanished with all their life savings and
that the pretty young thing at work gets promoted over her. Then there is Lila,
also in a state of silent desperation. She has demons of her own that I will
let you discover. I have never actually descended into a world of crime, but I
suspect, if one slips off the rails, this is pretty much how it goes.
Then of
course, it has to be said, it makes a MASSIVE difference to have a woman at the
helm as director. I am very, very happy to report that the women in this film
do not fit the “frilly” stereotypes they are usually put in at all. Ray is, you
will soon discover as tough as old boots. Lila is as well in her own way. They
are both put in situations where they are active parties in their own
destinies, very much captains of their own souls – as the poem goes. Thing is
though, like all of us, they make mistakes – which is kinda what it’s all
about, both life and the film. In fact, the more I think about it, the clearer
it is to me how much of a matriarchy this film is, as all the main, active
characters are women, the men (with the notable exception of the police officer
– but I do see it wouldn’t be realistic to have a female police officer at a
tough spot like that) are either very much minor characters or acted upon by
the women. It is very subtly done, so
much so I didn’t even notice it until I stopped to think about it as I write
this review but when I did, it made me smile.
But all
that is once you’ve watched the film and the initial shock is over. This is the
kind of film that is going to have you engulfed in that all familiar sinking
feeling from the first five minutes onwards. It really does feel as if you’re
being slowly strangled in the darkness of the film from time to time… But oh
boy… What a ride. Totally worth it.
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