Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Girls Gone Wild--"On The Outs" Quietly Examines Street Life From The Viewpoint Of Teenaged Girls, January 23, 2007
Chances are that if you watch much film and/or television--you won't find the subject matter of "On The Outs" to be particularly new or enlightening. This small film is a cautionary tale of drug use in the inner city and how it affects the local youth. By intertwining three character studies, the film gives you several different tales of addiction, dealing, and corruption that intersect at a juvenile detention center. But while the stories told in "On The Outs" may seem quite familiar, that does not mean that this film isn't also worth seeing. For what is unusual, "Outs" is told from the vantage point of three underaged girls--and that's not a demographic that is commonly investigated in these types of film. Believably written and performed, "On The Outs" is a worthy addition to the genre of realistic urban street films.
The film follows three girls. We have Oz, a successful drug dealer who is alienated from her addict mother. She bounces into and out of the detention center frequently on routine drug busts, it's just a normal part of her regular life. Marisol, a single mother, struggles with an addiction and the potential loss of her daughter into the foster system. And Suzette, a young girl with a supportive mother, falls in love with a local street dealer and tries to enter his world. All three characters are believable and all of the actresses, though unknown, are effective at depicting the different stages within these sometimes unpleasant stories.
This is not a fun film, but nor does it seek to deliver some "important" political message. It's just a slice-of-life drama about characters caught up in a system. While you may root for them, there will be no conventional "happy endings"--their situations are too realistic to tie everything up nicely. Glimmers of hope and moments of heartbreak alternate in this quiet, small film. Effective, but not groundbreaking, the film succeeds due to the committed performances and nicely realized scenarios. KGHarris, 01/07.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SUPERB. OUT-STANDING!, May 21, 2006
Besides having a deep love for gritty street dramas, I am also passionate about strong characterizations, realistic narratives that don't fall into Hollywood machine contrivance, and mindblowing performances. "On the Outs" has all of this and more. It's a daring, bold and courageous character study of three teenage girls caught in a whirlwind of inner city desperation and desolation. Each actress gave an amazing performance, especially Judy Marte who just has an effortless and natural screen presence. I'll say it here first and mark my words, Marte may be one of this generations most gifted and promising actresses. She plays Oz, a thugged out drug dealer caring for her mentally disabled brother and battling internally with her dope fiend mother. Then there is Paola Mendoza as Marisol, a crack-addicted single mother who loses custody of her child while in a juvenile corrections center. And then there is Anny Mariano as Suzette, a young impressionable teen who falls in love with a drug dealer and his dangerous world. All three of these characters represent the broken and saddened voices of American youth today. These are America's "forgotten" daughters. The young women of color who have all the potential in world with very few opportunities to rise above their harsh conditions. I highly recommend this movie to anyone looking for a moving and brutal story with dynamic performances. Prepare to be deeply affected by the wounds of these girls as they struggle to make sense of a world that never quite allows them to heal.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
all bad all the time, January 24, 2007
This sad and gritty film has earned a half dozen festival awards and nominations. It follows the tragic fates of three young women from Jersey City's ghetto--Suzette (a pregnant runaway teenager), Marisol (a crack addict and young mother), and Oz (a drug dealer), whose lives intersect after their separate paths to prison. Nearly every influence in their lives, whether personal or social, is harmful to them, including school, music, home, friends, drug and alcohol abuse, and, most of all, their trash-talking, gangsta boys. The girls live in a malevolent universe that is parallel to anything you would consider normal. Whether they got there by bad luck, bad choices, or by a heartless society that has victimized them is debatable. The director shows his hand, though, with several shots of the Statue of Liberty.
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