GIRL

US, 2020, 93 minutes, Colour.

Bella Thorne, Elizabeth Saunders, Mickey Rourke, Chad Faust, Lynette Ware, Glen Gould.

Directed by Chad Faust.

Girl is a rather grim, often ugly drama.

Bella Thorne portrays the unnamed Girl, seeking vengeance on her absent father, travelling to a down and out town to kill him. She finds him dead. She tangles with a strange and mentally unbalanced character called Charmer (played, in fact, by the director of the film, Chad Faust). If one hasn’t looked at the credits, the sheriff seems to be a Mickey Rourke lookalike (in his later age) – but he is Mickey Rourke.

The two brothers have killed the Girl’s father, wanting the money. Gradually a complex relationship between the two men, the Girl’s mother and the father emerges. A great deal of deception, the Girl finally wanting to confront her mother.

Perhaps a certain fascination in trying to find out Girl’s background and what is going on – but a great deal of grim violence and confrontations.

1. The title focus? Girl having no individual name? Her background, her story, her quest?
2. The settings, the bus in the countryside, the small town, down and out, the bar, the father’s home, the sheriff’s home? The outdoor settings, the yards? The musical score?
3. The gradual opening out of the Girl’s story? Her vengeance, phone calls from mother, letters from her father, the money, her anger, intent to kill her father? Arriving in the town, sullen attitudes, the encounter with the sheriff, refusing the lift, the bar, the sympathetic bartender, Betty enigmatic, the Girl going to the hut, finding her father dead?
4. The laundry, the encounter with Charmer, his talk, the violence? The sheriff, half-brothers? Taking the Girl, their killing her father, wanting the money, her being tied up, the attempted torture, digging up the bathroom tiles? Her getting free? Going back to the bar, stories from Betty?
5. The phone calls to her mother? Her mother on the way? The revelation about the relationships, the mother’s back injuries, not telling her daughter the truth? The father, love for his daughter, the letters? The mother’s relationship to the sheriff and Charmer?
6. The confrontation with Charmer, his death? The confrontation with the sheriff?
7. Her mother’s arrival, the talk, the truth of the story, the Girl’s anger? Her mother leaving?
8. The return to Betty, having to cope with future?