Lola Kirke (Mozart in the Jungle, Mistress America) shines as Joey, an aimless high school graduate searching for a way out of Pennsylvania coal country. A visit to an Army recruiting office appears to provide a path, but a chance encounter with magnetic Rayna (UnReal’s Breeda Wool), a slyly seductive housewife and mother neglected by her long-haul trucker husband, changes Joey’s trajectory irrevocably. As Joey falls ever more deeply in love with Rayna, clouded judgment leads her down a path she can’t turn back from. With winning lead performances from Kirke and Wool and a strong supporting cast, director Deb Shoval’s muscular feature film debut is a splendid and brooding meditation on the boundless possibilities of first love constricted by the trials of rural poverty.
Passes Accepted: Guest Pass and Member Guest Pass