Patti Cake$

Patricia, who works in a bar in New Jersey, wants to rap. Her family does not believe in it, the people around her mock her, and the debts pile up. She forms a group with her friend Jheri and Basterd, who makes music alone in the woods. Geremy Jasper wrote and directed his first film. Danielle Macdonald plays Patricia, Bridget Everett her mother, Cathy Moriarty her grandmother. The director wrote most of the songs and Macdonald performed the raps herself; the actor is Australian and trained in both the accent and the rapping for the part. Class sits at the centre: music is offered as a promise of escape while the film keeps reminding you that success is not guaranteed. The mother is the best-written element; a woman whose own musical hope was broken, she is both support and obstacle to her daughter's. It played at Sundance and had no trouble finding distribution. Who it is for: viewers who like music drama and small-town stories. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the mould to break; the story follows the known road.