Bergorks
If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Janae Milner
Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Gary
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
TxMike
I found this one on Netflix streaming movies. Frankly the title intrigued me, and after seeing it I am glad I did. It isn't a real clear and linear story, although most of it happens linearly. It is about a girl raised in a traditional Mormon family in Utah, just turning 15, and finding out she is pregnant. Her dad's reaction is to quickly arrange a marriage with a nice young man, but she steals the family truck and runs away to Las Vegas.Julia Garner is the 15-yr-old girl, Rachel, and she is absolutely perfect and believable. She has taken in all the bible stories as she grew up and instantly decided hers was an Immaculate Conception, she believes by listening to a certain song, and she intends to find the "father", the singer of that song.Billy Zane is good as her dad, Paul. Rory Culkin is good as Clyde who she meets in Las Vegas, and who says he will marry her if she can't find the man who sang the song on the blue tape.Most of the story here is indirect and some will not like it for that, but I found it totally absorbing. Who is the father of her baby? In a sense it is left to the viewer to decide but it is not the primary concern of the story.SPOILERS: Reading interviews with Rebecca Thomas, writer-director who herself was raised Mormon, she doesn't really clarify it but hints that it is intended to be a modern day Mary and Joseph story, someone coming forward to accept the pregnant Rachel without judging. Many viewers however believe that several clues in the movie point to her dad, Paul, as being the father, maybe because on her search finding her biological father who had a tryst in the red Mustang with her mother, and Paul knew this was not his own daughter. I myself had concluded Paul was the most likely father but it is indeed left unclear.
curtis martin
This is an amazing job for a first feature film by a writer-director who was still in film school. A fine effort by a talented amateur with very little money on hand.But, seriously, it's not a particularly good film overall. It starts strong--the scenes in the religious country home all ring true. I think that's because this is the part that the writer-director was actually familiar with in real life. Once Racheal gets to Vegas, however, the movie falls apart into random, loosely connected scenes that feature what seems to be very, very poorly improvised dialog. The poor actors just seem to be at a loss as to what they are supposed to be saying or doing. And the effect isn't "natural," it's just the opposite. You are totally aware that these are actors trying to think of what to say and do, not real people who just don't know what to say. Like a bad home movie or a the plot part of a porno. Incongruities abound as Racheal, who was so sheltered that she had never heard pop music, talked on a cell phone, and didn't even know what a tape recorder was all the sudden starts tossing around terms she would never have heard before like "rock and roll" and "cell phone." And the revelatory scene (can't tell you what it is)is implausible beyond belief. It, and many other parts of the Vegas section, was an interesting idea that the filmmaker apparently just didn't have time to work out in a way that worked.The acting was pretty good, when dialog was scripted. Billy Zane as the religious nut dad was smooth and professional, but seemed way too nice and reasonable to be the relative heavy of the piece; a hint of darkness in dad would have made the whole movie a bit better. The woman who played the mom was very good too, in a limited role.The guy who played Racheal's newly found boy friend was easily the most accomplished young performer in the movie, even handling his part in the pointless, rambling Vegas scenes as though he actually knew what was going on (I don't think anyone else did).But I have to say that, when they were given written dialog, the other young performers were for the most part very appealing. The girl who played Racheal was quite charming. She drifted from sheltered religious cult girl to valley girl without warning, but she was very expressive and had a good presence.But overall, what we have is a very good 20 minute short film about a girl in an isolated Mormon cult who discovers rock and roll. And that is followed by over an hour of what seems like a first draft of a story that the filmmaker hoped would come together as they went along.And who knows? If she had been afforded the time and resources of even a low budget Hollywood film, maybe she could have brought it together at that. There is obvious talent there!
meganddavies
Stumbled across this lovely film on Netflix last night, and after reading the summary was curious as to how it would turn out, and it was a lot better than I thought !We follow the 15 year old Rachel who believes that she has had an immaculate conception and got pregnant by listening to a tape that she found (we are left to assume how she actually got pregnant) Julia Garner plays a brilliant part and she played the character so well you can almost believe she got pregnant through listening to the songWe see Rachel and her brother Mr Will go from their rural Mormon village to the gritty streets of Las Vegas were they meet some rockers who take them in as fellow travellers and what we see is a beautiful coming of age story as Rachel and Mr Will adapt and experience new things. Another brilliant performance by Rory Culkin as the stoner/skateboarder who falls in love with Rachel and helps her along her way.Overall 7/10 an enjoyable watch, with incredible cinematography and of course, an excellent soundtrack !
jayraskin
I was pretty sure I was going to watch only five minutes of this film when I turned it on Netflix late one night before going to sleep. However the film hooked me and I stayed up to watch half of it and caught the second half the next night. Two things caught me, the jumpy Terence Malick-like editing and visual style and the subtle, natural acting of lead Julia Garner.The movie is very relaxed about telling its narrative, preferring to give us community atmosphere and causally letting the narrative fall out. The contrasting atmospheres of a strict Mormon/Amish-like rural religious community and an urban teenage punk-rock community is both strange and funny. Rebecca Thomas shows a lot of artistry and promise as a first time writer-director.I looked up Julia Garner on Google because I had not seen her before and she really gives a breathtaking performance in the lead. She plays a girl raised in such a strict religious background that the Virgin Mary in the Jesus Mythology seems to be her only role model. I was not surprised to find that Bette Davis is her favorite actress. The performance seems modeled on some of Bette Davis' performances, especially, "the Petrified Forrest." (1936).It was also great to see Liam Aiken whom I hadn't seen since "Lemony Snicket" (2004). Apparently, he has only done a few television shows since then. He also gives a wonderfully subtle performance as Julia's brother, "Mr. Will". His character is essentially a child forced to act serious and never smile.It reminds one how cruel a religious upbringing can be.
