Gimme Shelter

Sixteen-year-old Apple runs from an abusive home and discovers she is pregnant. Her wealthy father does not want her, her mother wants her back. She ends up at a shelter for pregnant teenagers. Ronald Krauss wrote and directed. Vanessa Hudgens plays Apple, Ann Dowd plays Kathy DiFiore, the woman who founded the shelter, Rosario Dawson plays the mother, James Earl Jones the hospital priest, Brendan Fraser the father. The script came out of direct observation. Krauss spent a year living in a shelter for pregnant teens while writing, and composited several residents into one character. Real shelter residents, their babies and DiFiore herself appear on screen. Hudgens made herself unrecognizable: she cut her hair, played the part without makeup, and walked away from her Disney image entirely. Critics split. Most separated Hudgens out for praise and found the film around her too sermon-like. Who it is for: viewers who like small performance-driven dramas rooted in a real institution. Who it is not for: anyone wanting detachment; the film takes a side and does not hide it.