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SUNDANCE 2007
Sherrybaby
"Sherrybaby" by Zack Roddy
Written and directed by Laurie Collyer, the drama Sherrybaby stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Brad Henke, Bridget Barkan, and Ryan Simpkins.
Sherry Swanson (Gyllenhaal) has just been released after serving a three-year sentence in prison and returns to her small New Jersey town to
reunite with her young daughter Alexis (Simpkins). Sherry is excited at the thought of getting a good job and settling down with Alexis in their own
home. But Sherry's brother Bobby (Henke) and his wife, Lynette (Barkan) who have been raising Alexis since Sherry went to jail, are less than
thrilled with this idea, because they want to raise Alexis themselves. Under their influence, Alexis becomes more and more detached from Sherry,
and Sherry starts to backslide into drug use, the thing that got her sent to prison in the first place.
Sherrybaby is phenomenally intense movie, and if it is distributed, it will be hard to market due to the subject matter, which includes
molestation, drug use, and graphic sexuality. Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance as Sherry is nothing short of amazing, but I found it hard to
sympathize with the character, because she had a conscience choice but made the wrong decisions anyway. It also got to the point where the
story became a little unrealistic, for too many terrible things happened to the main character, and they would happen one right after the other.
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