White Girl (2016)

During the publicity blitz for this movie director and writer Elizabeth Wood made a big deal about how this was based on her real life experiences, how unshocking it was (while simultaneously playing up that their were tons of sex scenes and nudity to play up the shock factor) and how unfair it was that white women like herself were able to dabble in drugs for fun in college, while their Latino and black peers were treated like criminals for far lesser offences. Now all these things led me to expect a much different movie, but watching White Girl I was almost bored by how tame and basic it was and how little it had to say beyond that one message. Morgan Saylor plays Wood's alter ego Leah. Moving into a cheap apartment in a bad (i.e. predominately Latino) neighbourhood with her friend Katie, Leah is immediately attracted to some young Latino men she sees hanging around her street corner. One night, bored and out of weed she introduces herself to them. When they refuse to sell to her she later meets one of them, named Blue, and invites him up to her apartment. They quickly fall in love and Leah helps him upsell his cocaine at exorbitant prices to her wealthy white friends. Of course this all predictably goes bad and Leah lands in a dangerous situation where she feels compelled to save Blue, who has landed in prison. The strange thing is how boring and formulaic this all feels. I watched a scene with Morgan Saylor bouncing around in a rave with her top off and all I wondered was when the movie would be over. We watch Leah make manic decision after ridiculous decision always protected by the fact that she is young, middle class and white. But it's hard to feel for a character when she's her own worst enemy and you can see her mistakes coming a million miles away. Another thing is, if Wood was so hell bent on showing how white people have the privilege of getting away with things that their black and brown peers can't telling the story from the perspective of the white girlfriend was a huge mistake. It's too bad, I really had high hopes for this, but it fell short. A more interesting take on millennial hedonism and race and class in America is Spring Breakers which is over the top and ridiculous in a way that packs more punch than White Girl.

The entire time I was glued to this film, its pure drama. I cannot recommend this movie enough to my friends. Its a wild adventure of a girl on an extreme summer break, and it all feels too real. I hated this film in the best way because it made me feel something, every dimly lit second of it. Any white girl, aged 16-30 will probably love this film, even if the whole time you're screaming 'OH MY GOD why did she do that' This is a story of a girl who spends a summer thinking with her short term gains in mind, its all fun and games until it hits close to home. God damn I don't wanna give away too much into the story because its so good, but trigger warning, there is rape culture that comes with most dramas about sex and teenage girls with drugs and dealers.

Probably one of the best female performances i've seen for a very long time, especially when you consider the movie was written and directed by a female "Elizabeth Wood", so you are not viewing the movie from the male gaze. Most sexist cooperate movie reviewers wont even understand what the male gaze is - so i commend all the people involved in this production. If Morgan misses out on a nomination - she has been robbed. I highly recommend this movie to all! <3The movie is hard hitting and real - in a similar vein to American HONEY. If you like coming of age movies that are hard hitting - Enjoy.Thanks for reading.

So why would a person watch a film with little to no redeeming values? You will ask this question every ten minutes as this film flows deeper and deeper down the sewer line. There are people in this film that you grow to hate and not care for. The female lead exploits her own depravity where you question the basic logic of her behavior. She makes some of the most profound mistakes early on and she keeps making these mistakes throughout the picture. And the theme has been beaten to death and if there was suppose to be any shock value, it was lost in the delivery of the script and the direction. Why should we care about another drug user? Why should we invest in the relationship between her and her boyfriend drug dealer? We've seen this trope too many times to give a damn. The utter stupidity of this girl and the lack of any common sense just screams at you. Every minute that passed by makes you want to just end the film because it gets worse and worse. If this was suppose to be based on true events then I pity the person who's life this was based on because every moment was just so dumb. This was an ugly film where every character was despicable. The boss, the roommate, the boyfriend, the other dope dealers, the cops, the lawyer, there were no characters were you could shine a light on. No one can be this blatantly naive and expect to survive in New York City.