I saw this film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and was very, very disappointed. First up let me say the rape scene was completely irrelevant to the rest of the story - it seemed very much out of place and like it was just inserted to generate controversy. The film had some tolerable aspects - I like parts of the cinematography - but the music seemed badly chosen and there were a few scenes where the editing didn't seem right - it seemed choppy, done in a hurry (maybe to cut out bits which would have been offending, and pretend they were never shot). Dakota is an astounding actress, but this was one of her weakest roles yet, probably because the inexperienced director was unable to guide her performance. (I thought the same about Robin Wright Penn.) The other child actors appeared to have been equally badly guided, and they don't have the experience of Fanning to be able to give good performances. It was horrible watching some of the scenes they had to do. The worst part of the film was the boring, long and pointless storyline. It was degrading. There was no triumph over adversity, definitely no escapism, no big moral issues that seemed to have been dealt with. This is an over-hyped, amateur hack film that should not be seen by audiences anywhere.
(Oh, and the Q&A was terrible. I hadn't known there would be one, yet it seemed suspiciously staged with audience plants - yes it really did seem like that. Also a nasty dig at Abigail Breslin, who seems to have done much better this year than Dakota.)
(Oh, and the Q&A was terrible. I hadn't known there would be one, yet it seemed suspiciously staged with audience plants - yes it really did seem like that. Also a nasty dig at Abigail Breslin, who seems to have done much better this year than Dakota.)