Weekly Review -- Life's rough edges

Turn the River (2007) -- A hard-knocks life story told in cinéma verité style, this Chris Eigemann film comes at the audience with all guns blazing. Pool hustler Kailey Sullivan (Famke Janssen) lives her nomadic life one day at a time, from one game to the next, from one rough sleep to the other. She is secretly keeping in contact with her son Gulley (Jaymie Dornan), who has been living with his emotionally abusive father (Matt Ross) and his new wife (Marin Hinkle). Desperate to get Gulley back and get him out of his predicament, Kailey decides to make enough money hustling so that she can obtain fake passports and escape to Canada. However, life keeps overwhelming her, and the question is, will it end up backing her into a corner? Janssen is fantastic in a role that is very different from most roles she has played so far. She hits all the right notes when playing up Kailey's desperation, resolve, occasional guilelessness and gloomy uncertainty as she threads the steps of life. A special mention goes to THAT pool shot, which took guts and skill. Matt Ross is impressive as the estranged ex-husband, who nears an anger explosion with every word he says, yet whose coldness remains the greatest threat to his own son. Jaymie Dornan and Rip Torn also provide good supporting turns, as the troubled son and the resourceful owner of a pool hall, respectfully. The raw quality of the cinematography and of the very screenplay -- the disjointedly spontaneous dialogue style resembles various real-life exchanges -- brings the bleakness of the anti-heroine's existence to the surface, without glamorizing even one attempt at possible redemption. The film is an elegant, complex study of survival peppered by life's mistakes, as well as deliverance in the face of what can often be insurmountable obstacles.

8/10