'Holler' can't shake off the rust
IFC
A joyous movie like “Booksmart” depicts people on a trajectory for college who have the education and resources to go. No matter what money can’t buy it does buy opportunity, and, obviously, so many stories and lives are informed by what they can or can’t afford. Even movies not directly about financial concerns are at least aware of them, or their absence.
In “Holler,” Ruth (Jessica Barden of “The End of the F***ing World,” who could pass for a cousin of “Booksmart” star Kaitlyn Dever) lives in an Ohio rust belt community where access is limited on nearly all fronts. To jobs, to money, to education, to quality relationship prospects. Add in a mom (Pamela Adlon) being held on a drug sentence and educators who discourage college possibilities because of student loan debt, and you can fit the local offering of hope on a fingernail.
Which isn’t to say that “Holler” is a trudge through despair, or that it feels sorry for itself. Writer-director Nicole Riegel merely humanizes the people left behind in a society that seems to have fled town. Fortunately, the film allows for a sense of energy within the gray, allowing its characters to raise their voices in ways “Nomadland” weirdly suppressed. Tomorrow may seem uncertain and dull, but today can still be chaotic. Riegel captures characters without power and the things they have to do as a result.
Of course, just because this common American song remains relevant doesn’t mean it doesn’t need some new lyrics. And “Holler” is a long way from the impact of “Killing Them Softly” or the invention of “Kajillionaire.” As Ruth and her brother (Gus Halper) are forced to steal and sell scrap metal, “Holler” fittingly feels stapled together from other presentations of struggling communities, from Jennifer Lawrence’s breakout “Winter’s Bone” to the under-seen 2020 title “Working Man.”
Meanwhile, aside from an early moment of hearing TFG on the radio claiming to bring back jobs while doing nothing to help, “Holler” resists exploring what’s behind the growing distance between tiers of society. You’d think that narrative choice would result in a detailed character study, but too often this drama still feels general in its consideration of its well-acted characters. It’s also not clear what statement is being made about higher education, only its inaccessibility for many, which is not breaking news but sobering when explored through an actual person. Another pass at this screenplay might’ve refined Ruth’s arc so its struggle wasn’t so broad, or its ending so predictable.
At just 85 minutes, this may be a proverbial slice of life, but it’s cut too small.
C+
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