The Poker HouseA story based on real life of sisters in the house where their mother practices prostitution. Great performances, but a little weak plot.
Real life tends to have no neat endings. The Poker House is based on the
early life of its director Lori Petty, named Agnes in this movie. She and
her older little sister Bee (Sophia) lived with their prostitute mother, in
the same house where she practiced her trade. It was life unsuitable for
anyone, much less children. Things eventually changed, which is remarkable
enough for a real-life situation, but doesn't satisfy as the sole
conclusion of a movie.
A central figure in their life is the pimp, ruling with whispers of love
mixed with violence. Hungry for affection, Agnes, too, buys into his lies.
Perhaps he also provides a coarse substitute as her father, a violent
preacher who the family fled from many years ago. After dark, he invites a
questionable crowd of his peers and their women into the house. As bad
place as it is for a child, it's even worse for a budding woman like Agnes.
The story focuses strongly on Agnes at the expense of all other characters.
Luckily, Jennifer Lawrence performs superbly as Agnes, being completely
believable as a talented, strong-willed, but deeply hurting 14-year-old
(the actress is older, thus not listed in this site), who does her best to
live a normal life. She does school work, takes care of her sister, plays
basketball and writes poetry, but above all tries to survive emotionally.
 Bee (Sophia) and Agnes Bee is given a modest amount of screen time. Sophia is wonderfully
expressive, and her great performance somewhat makes up for the fact her
scenes remain disconnected from the overall story. The same problems is all
over the movie: there are interesting scenes all over the movie, but we
never find out more about them.
Chloe plays Agnes' younger sister Cammie. She lives in a foster home with
some age-mates. Her parents seem like passable people, with apparently good
intentions but little money. And that's about all we find out. Her acting
isn't comparable to that of the two other girls, although some other
reviewers appear to like it.
This is a mini-review. We mostly write full reviews only for the best or most inspiring movies. You're welcome to submit better or new reviews. |
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