Sherrybaby

Sherry comes out of prison. She was an addict and had treatment. Now she wants her daughter back; the child was raised by her brother and his wife and barely knows her mother. Sherry lives in a halfway house, has to find work and attends weekly meetings. She is allowed to see her daughter but there are conditions for custody. Sherry is not patient. At the same time there is something in her own family that has never been spoken of. Laurie Collyer writes and directs. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Sherry. The film was shown at Sundance and Gyllenhaal's playing was widely praised. The narrative chooses not to make the character likeable; Sherry lies, behaves selfishly, and does not put her daughter's need before her own. The matter it treats is life after addiction; the narrative does not build recovery as a turning point. The parole system is shown in detail: reports, testing, the requirement to look for work, and housing. Its hardest section is the past inside the family; the film does not explain it and passes it in a single scene. It was made on a small budget and shot largely handheld. Who it is for: viewers who like American independent drama and films centred on acting. Who it is not for: the subject is heavy, attachment to the character difficult, and the ending uncertain.