In a Struggling Community, a Young Woman Has a Chance for Something More

Jessica Barden in "Holler"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

There have been many great modern films that have depicted small-town American life in one way or another.  Over the years, we’ve been given movies like Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” and “Leave No Trace,” David Mackenzie’s “Hell or High Water,” Jeff Nichols’ “Take Shelter” and “Loving,” Andrea Arnold’s “American Honey,” and Kelly Reichardt’s “Wendy and Lucy” and “Certain Women.” All of these movies tell engaging stories that are so different from each other, yet offer a view into several worlds within rural America and emphasize that stories such as these can have as much of an impact as those that take place in bigger settings.

Now, writer-director Nicole Riegel contributes to this type of story with her filmmaking debut for the drama, “Holler,” a vivid look into a woman’s fight for everyday survival.

In a small community in Southern Ohio, Ruth (Jessica Barden) is a high-school student trying to make it by in a town that doesn’t hold much promise for her future.  When she finds out that she’s been accepted into college, she decides to join a scrap-metal crew to try and pay for her education.

Barden offers a strong performance as a young woman who must decide what to do with her future.  At the start of the film, Barden showcases her character’s streetwise mentality, the effect of an individual who has learned how to make it through the roughness of her impoverished community.  There’s a steeliness in her eyes that displays someone who has been through much, but continues to move on in order to get passed another day.  However, as the movie goes on, Barden exhibits the conflicted nature that Ruth faces as she must decide whether to stay in her hometown where she’s most familiar, or leave everything behind and go to college.  Ruth’s a compelling character, and Barden does superb work in not only presenting us with what Ruth is going through in the present, but also giving us a clear idea of the hardships she has experienced in the past.

The supporting cast does well in fleshing out the world that Ruth inhabits, and they all make an impression, whether they have just a couple of scenes, or several.  There’s Gus Harper as Blaze, Ruth’s supportive and protective brother; Austin Amelio as Hark, the shady individual with whom Ruth and Blaze go into business; and Becky Ann Baker as Linda, a compassionate friend of Ruth’s family.  However, the standout of the supporting cast is Pamela Adlon as Rhodna, Ruth and Blaze’s mother, who’s trying to go through drug rehabilitation.  With just two scenes, Adlon displays the dramatic potential of which she’s capable, and she’ll leave you wanting to see what else she can do in dramatic territory such as this.

Although Riegel’s screenplay might seem a little slim in terms of the central story, it nevertheless offers an intimate portrait of this corner of America through its array of characters.  Through those characters, we not only see how their everyday lives are, but we also see the notion of what it means to have to choose to either stay in a town to which you’ve become accustomed, or to venture out from what you know.  Through the interactions of these characters, we’re able to see glimpses of the different facets of their lives, whether it be school, their home lives, or their work lives, all of which provide us with an understanding of the challenges that these characters are always facing.

Riegel doesn’t try to go overboard with the drama for this movie, but rather scales it back in such a way that reflects the reserved, beaten-down nature of the film’s setting.  She makes you feel the uncertainty that the characters experience on a daily basis, drawing you into not only the physical environment of the movie, but also the emotional one.

“Holler” may be a quiet movie, but it has a loud voice underneath.

Grade: A-