Many people are fond of saying, "I have the worst luck!" That phrase, however, doesn't seem to do justice to Nicole's present situation. A high school student, Nicole lives with her widowed father, a mechanic. Though it seems as though everything is fine, her father is hiding the fact that he has been fired from his job for failing to show up consistently, and that their house is about to be foreclosed on within a week. Seeing no other option, he commits suicide; likely in the hope that the mortgage company will go easy on his daughter.
But his hopes aren't realized. The bank still intends to kick the now-orphaned Nicole out of her house within a matter of days, leaving her little choice but to go into foster care or live on the street. In desperation, Nicole writes a letter to God and sticks it in the mail. Though it seems that nothing will come of this letter, it is instead discovered by a very unlikely individual.
There are very few indie filmmakers who are willing to tackle such a subject matter, and the way in which it was handled makes me guess that there might be some personal feelings behind it. There were no stereotypes, no belittling, and no moral speeches. Though it is a very taboo issue, I’m glad that it was addressed so openly and treated fairly.
I was pleased to notice that the character of Wiley the mailman was wearing an authentic uniform. Most filmmakers tend to get pieces from Goodwill and fake it, but this extra effort lends a great deal of realism. In addition, the policeman who shows up briefly also appeared to have an authentic, rather than fake, uniform. The attention to detail is a huge plus.
I have few points of criticism in this section, save for the fact that Nicole shows a lot of initial grief about her father’s death, but later when she speaks with his former boss, there is very little emotion. I suppose that everyone grieves in his or her own way, but even bloodshot and reddened eyes would give a good hint of the fact that she was certainly grieving, yet trying to hold it together for the sake of that conversation.
One thing I really loved about this film was its use of moving camera. And it didn't stick with the typical handheld either. There were some really great truck and dolly shots - something that can be incredibly complicated to both set up and execute. These were all perfectly focused, smoothly shot, and well-lit. All things that can be very tricky in a moving shot like that.
The scene in which Nicole is told of her father's suicide was very well done. The principal came into her class and escorted her out, then there was a cut to an exterior shot, and suddenly Nicole burst out of a door and fell to the ground crying, all beneath the voice-over of the principal giving her the news. It was a much more creative shot than simply sitting in the principal's office, and far more emotional as well.
I didn't notice any visual issues at all, except for maybe a few shots that were slightly overexposed, but otherwise there was almost nothing wrong. I was especially elated to find that part of this film's budget was allotted for neutral density gels for the windows! This is always a good choice. Yes, it's not cheap, but can be invaluable when shooting indoors, especially if that involves lots of windows. (Neutral density gels cut down the magnitude of light without effecting it's color, so it's a great way to bring down the light behind actors so they don't become silhouettes! Some famous television shows have actually coated entire sections a skyscraper in the stuff, so that they could shoot consistently in a series of extremely exposed offices.).
