Princess of the Row - Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film

Country: united_states

Year: 2020

Running time: 85

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6533972/reference

Michael says: “Alicia was called Princess by her father when she was a little girl. Now as a young teenager, her mother has left, her father suffered several mental issues due to PTSD suffered during the war in Iraq, she hangs onto that endearment as she bounces from foster home to foster home, all the while struggling to look out for her father, Bo Willis, who lives in a tent on Skid Row. Smart and hard-working, Princess has so much opportunity ahead of her, but her priority is to remain with her father and keep him safe. Sadly, her father rarely recognizes her as his daughter, and when he does, it’s fairly fleeting. At the other end, random situations will trigger Bo’s military training without context and he becomes dangerous to those around him. Princess’ sympathetic case worker Magadalene, thinks she’s found a good match, experienced foster parents John and Carolina, and they indeed start to form a connection. Trouble is, the couple live 10 hours our of LA, which just won’t work for Princess, whose priority is her Dad. Instead she takes a substantial amount of cash from John’s wallet, and hits the road with her Dad in tow, thinking if she can just get him out of the city, he’ll get better.

“Things get slightly cartoonish here. In an effort to show the dangers lurking for Princess and her Dad, the pair run afoul of some human traffickers that prey upon young girls. One thing leads to another, there’s some violence, and misunderstandings and the pair ultimately find themselves back in LA at square one. Except Princess’ experience has finally allowed her to realize what the only outcome of this tragedy can be. It’s wrenching and inevitable, and it’s to the film’s discredit that it tries to ease the pain by giving it a bit of fantasy gloss, but overall it’s a strong film and worth a view. Young Tayler Buck handles the challenging role of Princess well, and Edi Gathegi underplays the challenging role of Bo nicely. Director Van Maximillian Carlsoni does a fine job letting the natural flow of events drive the emotional punch, but it’s hist screenplay, co-written by A. Shawn Austin that could have used a bit more work to really give this story the heft it needs. Still, a worthy effort. 3 1/2 cats“

Princess of the Row

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