The 16-year-old Shelly lives with her brothers Andy and Jerome on a council estate in Cheshire \u2013 more a mother to them than a sister. The violent father, with whom the siblings have had a traumatic history, is in prison. Shelly makes a bit of money stealing and occasionally gets high as an antidote to the dreariness of her everyday life. She finds a Sugar Daddy in Mikey, a credit shark, who thus supports her financially. Rachel, an upper-class girl from the other side of town, appears from nowhere, mysteriously follows Shelly around and warns her about Mikey. Suddenly, Shelly\u2019s father\u2019s unexpected release from prison looms. She panics and seeks protection with Mikey. But he wants service in return.<\/p>\n
Walsh tells of the complexity and fragility of teenage sexuality while keeping the balance of power between her protagonists constantly in motion. She often uses a handheld camera, dispenses with artificial lighting and \u2013 not least with a keen sense of detail (such as the bitten- down fingernails of her main character) \u2013 brings the audience to see Shelly\u2019s dismal reality from her perspective. This haunting debut, the story located somewhere in a post-industrial no-man\u2019s land, recalls the films of Andrea Arnold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20650,"template":"","movie_year":[155],"movie_genre":[80],"movie_cat":[327],"festival":[417],"class_list":["post-9080","movie","type-movie","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","movie_year-155","movie_genre-feature-film-en","movie_cat-international-debut-feature-film-competition-en-2016","festival-2016-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n