Read till the end for my rate of the film
Setting: The film is mainly shot at a foster-care facility which is intentionally made to look rather small and close together. In the film the supervisors of the foster-care facility do their best to keep the kids inside the gates of the facility so there are rarely any scenes of the kids outside of the facility. Since the film is through the point of view of Grace there are also many scenes dealing with the sub story of her and her boyfriend in their house.
Plot: The film follows Grace, a supervisor who works at a foster-care facility, working with troubled kids fighting their inner struggles. The facility receives a new foster child named Jayden who is deeply pessimistic and obviously troubled. Grace sees much of herself in Jayden, having gone trough similar experiences and ends up bringing up past, unresolved, demons. Grace then not only tries to
Technical Aspects
Camera Work: The whole intention of the film is to make it seem like you are in the room with these troubled kids which is what makes the film so powerful. To keep that the illusion that your are standing or sitting there in the scene the shots mainly consist of close ups, medium shots and a couple medium long shots. The set is also important to how this film was shot. The facility that the foster children live at is intentionally shot so that everything looks condensed and close together. Even though each kid had their own room, with their personalities and problems they were close and the for each other serving as to as a form of symbolism that they are in fact a family.
Lighting: The style of this film is to make it look as human as possible so the lighting was not overdone as you would see on a studio film so if a scene would be dark in real life they made an effort to make the scene well lit but still dark. As a form of artistic vision you can tell that the colors are actually often muted and look a bit gloomier than normal to show how serious and depressing the film really can be. Then there's he final scene of the film which is filled with bright natural light and added warmth to show express that perhaps there is a hope for even the most damaged people.
Sound: I was very impressed by the sound of the film. The sound was very clear from the individual characters. Because most of the shots are interiors so the microphones could be set at high sensitivity to hear every painful breath and every quiet sob. To get such results the sound must have been recorded hand held for the close up and medium shot but recorded on lavaliere mics for medium shots. Music was very important to this movie because a few of the characters use it as a form or remedy, escape and expression. The sound and music mixing was well executed and very precise making it subtle yet meaningful.
Critiques: I can hardly think of any critiques really. Like I said earlier this is perhaps one of the most human films I've seen, meaning it's not just a story but in fact a look into all aspects of human imperfection. This film has so levels that beautifully layered on top of each other to make for a moving story that everyone could relate or love in one way or another. Each character in the film has their own individual personality and serves their purpose to the film. The acting is all around superb and is deserving of its best actress award received. Beside the screenwriting perhaps my favorite part about this film is its cinematography. The film was shot simply and I think that says volumes because this film , I the simplest form possible, was supposed to be about people their journey through struggles or the possibility for eventual happiness.
