Slums of Beverly Hills

A film set in Los Angeles in the 1970s. The Abromowitz family is always moving. The father is divorced, his work is irregular and there is no money; but he wants his children in good schools. So he finds the cheapest apartments inside the boundary of Beverly Hills, and when the rent cannot be paid they leave at midnight. Vivian is fifteen. She lives with two brothers and her father; her body is changing fast and she carries it with shame. A cousin arrives. Rita has run from rehabilitation; she is the daughter of a rich uncle, and the uncle pays the family to keep an eye on her. From there the film covers a summer. Adolescence, first relationships, a young man next door, the fear of pregnancy, attempts at finding work, and addresses that keep changing. What the narrative is interested in is not poverty but appearance: the family hides that it has no money, and what hiding it costs is more exhausting than the lack itself. The tone sits between comedy and sadness. The jokes hurt, and the family members genuinely love each other. Natasha Lyonne plays Vivian, Alan Arkin the father and Marisa Tomei plays Rita. Kevin Corrigan and Rita Moreno are in the cast. Tamara Jenkins wrote and directed; it is her first feature and the narrative draws on her own childhood. Who it is for: anyone who likes American independent films about the 1970s and stories of adolescence. Who it is not for: anyone who dislikes uncomfortable scenes; the film is direct about the body and sex.