Back Roads

After a mother (Juliette Lewis) goes to prison for shooting her husband in a backwater town in the Eastern USA, a young man (Alex Pettyfer) has to forsake college and take care of his three younger sisters, including a teenage hellion (Nicola Peltz). Meanwhile a wife who lives down the lane catches his interest (Jennifer Morrison).

"Back Roads" (2018) is a melancholy psychological family drama with a crime element that could be classified as Southern Gothic. While the events take place in Western Pennsylvania they could occur in any backwater community in the Eastern USA or Canada. The film was shot in St. Francisville, Louisiana, which is a half-hour drive north of Baton Rouge along the Mississippi.

Films that come to mind include "Mud" (2012), "Joe" (2013), "Winter's Bone" (2010), "Undertow" (2004), "Snow Angels" (2007), "Monster's Ball" (2001) and "The Fugitive Kind" (1960). The flick leaves you with a bad taste because it deals with some ugly things and features painful emotions, not to mention it's unrelentingly gloomy. If you think your family growing up was dysfunctional, you ain't seen nothing. But, if you reflect on the movie and the understated clues, everything makes sense and is well-written, based on Tawni O'Dell 1999 novel. Just don't expect a pleasant time.

The film runs 1 hour, 41 minutes.

GRADE: B-/C+

I think it is important to be aware before you go into this film that it is most definitely a drama and not really a thriller. I think most of the sub 5 star reviews have seen the thriller tag and thought that was what they were going to get. This is a serious drama about child abuse and how it can affect everything and everyone around you and is a brave movie if I may say that. If you are feeling depressed or are expecting something else then I would walk away now and find something else to watch. You definitely have to be in a certain mood to watch this and take it in properly.

The acting from the entire cast was superb especially Alex Pettyfer who carried the movie and directed it but also a scintillating performance from Nicola Peltz and Hala Finley.

The subject is a serious one about child abuse in America and I think how widespread it is around the entire world and gives one pause for thought and to ask questions of the audience which is a good thing. However if you are not in the mood I do not think you will find this an enjoyable experience as it will leave you with a good few dark questions and is not conducive to alleviating your mood if you are in any way feeling down or depressed.

That said its a brave subject to tackle and make a movie about knowing full well that 80% of audiences will not like it and prefer the crash, bang, wallop that society seems to focus on these days which is a shame.

I loved this movie in all it's aspects. The acting is very good, especially the main actor, who is superb showing the right emotions (or lack of them) after his life is shaken by traumatic incidents. The plot is very well writen and the timing and pace describs the right predict interest line. The story is always actual as it shows a hard and very hidden reality. And yes, there is some atrocity, cause the reality sometimes (more than we wanted) is also atrocious! I didn't find it slow. But if you think that it is, what's that suppose to mean? Aren't "Paris Texas", "2001 Space Odyssey"; "Fargo"; "There will be blood"; or even "The Godfather" awesome slow paced movies? Also I love Julliet Lewis. So good to watch her again in a movie. Love it.

So one reviewer called it trash and all the characters trashy losers, I don't get that. Either she cut out early before becoming aware of why these poor abused kids were the way they were or she just a snob who looks down her nose at people who are not as fortunate as her. Director and actor Alex Pettyfor obviously wanted to show people the horror of child abuse and the spiderweb of messed up things created after the trauma. I felt he did an amazing job of showing this. There's not much worse than child abuse except for people who call them trash for the way they handle that trauma. My heart goes out to all of them as well as my prayers! Ty Alex Pettyfor!

Great movie. Not sure why people are suggesting its not. Heart wrenching, difficult to watch at times. Clearly didn't have the pressures of a big studio dictating the plot.

Give it a go and you won't be disappointed.