Directed by: Tommy O’Haver
Cast: Elliot Page, Catherine Keener, Hayley McFarland
Running Time: 98 minutes
This film is based on
the true story of sisters Sylvia and Jenny Likens, the daughters of carnival
workers, who were left by their parents in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski, a
poor woman with multiple jobs for little amounts of money. Gertrude Baniszewski
saw two more children in her house as an opportunity for more money, but Sylvia
soon became the target of horrible abuse at the hands of her caretaker and the
rest of the family.
This film has a TV movie feel, but the acting makes it a lot better than you would expect from that genre. Elliot Page and Catherine Keener are both very solid in their respective roles. They carry this film on their shoulders. In spite of the TV movie feel, the director sets an atmosphere that is so heavy, in large part due to the subject matter. Some scenes are hard to take, when you realize this really happened. Thankfully, not everything is explicitly shot. The twist at the end was a ray of hope in a bleak setting. A mean trick that was if you do not know the endgame.
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