Hold On

I really enjoyed watching this music driven movie and was immersed in the story about an aspiring singer in LA (somewhat reminiscent of LA LA land) but more multi-layered and including a wide range of themes, such as homelessness, drug addiction, fat shaming. Good performances by lead and supporting actors. It was a surprise to see Luis Guzman playing a preacher and Flavor Flav a cop, but it worked, and the sister and pop star characters were particularly well cast. Overall, Hold On is a great film. It definitely should be placed in tearjerker category. Made me cry at various points, but also had cleverly woven comical moments that made me laugh, not to mention the music was excellent !

"Some of the best songs ever have come from a hard place."

This line in the film, spoken by the brash, young, wanna-be music producer character, Vic Duran, pretty much sum up the essence of this movie, as not only the film- but the film's title song, "Hold On", were apparently inspired by the real life hardships of Micayla de Ette, who interestingly, also plays the film's lead character, Sidney Rhodes. The story of Sidney's struggle to break into the challenging LA recording industry and her fruitless efforts to reconnect with her drug-addicted, homeless brother, a ghost of his former self living on LA's skid row, felt truthful and engaging. The contrasting backgrounds of the two leads, Sidney and Vic, and other characters offered a glimpse into the diverse social fabric of Los Angeles, that ranges from homeless encampments to wealthy enclaves with uniformed housemaids. The movie had so many layers. Performances were overall good, and the film's messages of hope, perseverance, and forgiveness especially poignant. Couldn't stop rooting for Sidney throughout the film and observed other audience members doing the same. For anybody who has ever struggled with drug addiction, homelessness, making it in the competitive entertainment world, or who simply enjoys a good honest movie that might make you cry, this movie is for you. Recommend!

It takes bravery and solid team work to bring a Coming Of Age film to life and keep it unique at the same time. 10 STARS. Well done.