Review

Huston delivers a solid directorial debut, making optimum use of a uniformly talented cast through a story line that easily could have surrendered to bathos. Malone is a wonder as the illegitimate daughter of an illegitimate daughter growing up in 1950s South Carolina. Her fortunes rise and fall with her mother's choice of men, illustrating economic inequities and the hardships of societal condemnation. From the casual cruelty of other children and uncaring bureaucracies to physical and sexual abuse at the hands of adults, the film delineates the financial and emotional dependence of single mothers struggling to support their families. Malone's character maintains a vibrant autonomy with the aid of a strong extended family and an unyielding if sometimes tragically misguided mother's love. Huston seems to have inherited her father's facility for revealing base human weaknesses as well as those occasional moments of triumph that elevates us above mundane existence and daily toil. An engrossing and involving film.