In this world we live in of preaching double standards and fighting for equality between the sexes, I'm so glad this movie exists. For once, a bold film which harrowingly portrays the brutal yet honest truth that sometimes there are such things as female offenders capable of horrific sexual assault. There aren't really many (if hardly any at all) rape-centric dramas that actually have the courage to tackle the harsh reality of such a taboo subject as this, so I give the film a high level of respect and well-deserved praise for not shying away from this very serious and unfortunately stigmatised issue.
Performances were great all-round. Carla Gugino's acting come off genuinely believable as our petrified protagonist who's been shook to her core after going through an inhumane act of degrading violation, and you just can't help but feel tremendous empathy for her knowing that no matter how many times she tries to tell her side of the story, no one is willing to listen because it sounds too "unthinkable" to them. She finds solace in her platonic guy friend, played by Robert Knepper, who's a pretty compassionate bloke at heart as he's by her side every step of the way, helping aid her fight for justice. Rya Kihlstedt was also terrific as a despicable person and the reckless perpetrator who you want to see get a lengthy prison sentence, along with her accomplice, played by Anna Thomson (the other assailant). And not to spoil anything, but Ellen Greene's disturbing monologue recounting the events of her own character's past experience involving physical abuse was extremely powerful and heart-wrenching to hear (phenomenal actress!).
Other than that, there's not much else to say. Catherine Dent and Aida Turturro both did a good job in their prominent authoritarian roles, same with Christopher McDonald (bar owner) and Lorraine Toussaint (defence attorney) in their respective parts. Certain aspects of the filmmaking aren't up to scratch, with the main problem being the poor audio quality whenever characters are trying to converse in a windy area for outside scenes (they mustn't have know how to effectively do sound-editing). That, and the cinematography isn't anything to write home about either, with most of its standard camera shots feeling static and flat at times with the lighting setup (save for the PTSD-induced black-&-white sequences). And weirdly, some of the writing felt kind of rushed through when everything's getting wrapped up toward the end, which can feel a bit underwhelming by not giving an entirely satisfying conclusion (even though it's not a depressing downer of an ending).
Even though it's not perfect (nowhere near), I'd still recommend you watch this film at least once regardless of its flaws because I believe it's something important that people need to be more aware of and educated about. Abuse is abuse, no matter of gender.
Performances were great all-round. Carla Gugino's acting come off genuinely believable as our petrified protagonist who's been shook to her core after going through an inhumane act of degrading violation, and you just can't help but feel tremendous empathy for her knowing that no matter how many times she tries to tell her side of the story, no one is willing to listen because it sounds too "unthinkable" to them. She finds solace in her platonic guy friend, played by Robert Knepper, who's a pretty compassionate bloke at heart as he's by her side every step of the way, helping aid her fight for justice. Rya Kihlstedt was also terrific as a despicable person and the reckless perpetrator who you want to see get a lengthy prison sentence, along with her accomplice, played by Anna Thomson (the other assailant). And not to spoil anything, but Ellen Greene's disturbing monologue recounting the events of her own character's past experience involving physical abuse was extremely powerful and heart-wrenching to hear (phenomenal actress!).
Other than that, there's not much else to say. Catherine Dent and Aida Turturro both did a good job in their prominent authoritarian roles, same with Christopher McDonald (bar owner) and Lorraine Toussaint (defence attorney) in their respective parts. Certain aspects of the filmmaking aren't up to scratch, with the main problem being the poor audio quality whenever characters are trying to converse in a windy area for outside scenes (they mustn't have know how to effectively do sound-editing). That, and the cinematography isn't anything to write home about either, with most of its standard camera shots feeling static and flat at times with the lighting setup (save for the PTSD-induced black-&-white sequences). And weirdly, some of the writing felt kind of rushed through when everything's getting wrapped up toward the end, which can feel a bit underwhelming by not giving an entirely satisfying conclusion (even though it's not a depressing downer of an ending).
Even though it's not perfect (nowhere near), I'd still recommend you watch this film at least once regardless of its flaws because I believe it's something important that people need to be more aware of and educated about. Abuse is abuse, no matter of gender.