Delayed Reaction: White Girl

The Pitch: Spring Breakers with only one girl and in New York City.

I'm a fan of the "scare the shit out of parents" movies. Kids, Thirteen, Spring Breakers. They tend to be very similar. Teens. Girls. Normally white. Middle class. Drugs. Sex. It's a simple formula. They all have slight variations of the same message. White Girl is no different.

First of all, Morgan Saylor is giving the kind of performance that can only happen if she trusts the director completely. That is a raw and unflattering performance. I commend her for that. I can tell she's trying though. Leah is not an easy role and you can tell that in Saylor's performance. I'm not sure many people her age can pull off the part, which is a shame because, you know, the character is that age.

Elizabeth Wood (the writer/director) does a great job showing the messiness and chaos of this lifestyle. It's a gritty movie with a nihilist streak. There's that pile-on effect that these movies tend to have, where just when you think things can't get any worst, someone gets raped or killed. I'm glad it was a short movie, because two hours of this would've ruined my day.
The ending is a case of the obvious decision not being the wrong decision. It mirrored the ending of Everybody Wants Some!! and worked just a well but for much different reasons.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend