Direction: Alexandre Rockwell
Country: USA
Although displaying some plot choices near the finale that could have been better worked out, Sweet Thing, the 11th feature from Boston filmmaker Alexandre Rockwell (In The Soup; Little Feet), flies more than it fails, giving you solid reasons to see it; namely, a strong narrative construction supported by chiaroscuro black-and-white images with some occasional bursting of color (portraying happier times), nearly faultless acting, a gorgeously retro soundtrack (with Van Morrison at the helm) that always feels right, and an emotional significance that invites us to reflect about adults unequipped with what is needed to take care of their kids, forcing them into improper environments and go-nowhere existences.
Just like in Little Feet (2013), the director works with his two children - Lana Rockwell is Billie and Nico Rockwell is Nico, 15 and 11, respectively. They are siblings living in New Bedford, Massachusetts, with their sad, alcoholic father, Adam (an utterly convincing Will Patton), who shows his affection by stating “you both are the only good things I ever did”. It’s Christmas time and, despite the financial difficulties and occasional emotional instability, one can tell there’s love in that family. When Adam hits the bottom and is taken to rehab, the kids go spend the summer with their negligent mother, Eve (the director’s wife Karyn Parsons), becoming dangerously exposed to the cruelty and perversion of her boyfriend, Beaux (M.L. Josepher). Their rescue is Malik (Jabari Watkins), a local streetwise and self-proclaimed ‘outlaw and renegade’. But for the young girl, however, there’s the spirit of the jazz diva Billie Holiday, who visits and comforts her in the thorniest situations.
Shot with a poetic glow that easily conjures up the timeless feel of European classics (from Truffaut to Godard), this brave little film makes a clear statement without forcing sentiments to arise.
