Film Movement
There’s a kind of common story with the ‘complicated’ protagonist. One we follow as the lead of a movie or TV show, the hero with aspirations and a heart of gold, but one who makes ethical compromises along the way. That could probably describe half the TV shows on right now, if we’re honest. How much you care then becomes dependent on the world, context, and performance to excuse the failures and root for them anyway.
Goldie comes from writer/director Sam de Jong in his second feature film. Slick Woods stars as Goldie, an 18-year-old aspiring dancer with dreams of stardom and getting her family out of poverty and trouble. Her sisters are her world otherwise, as we see from the first scene of the movie. Goldie dances in a local recital with abandon and charisma, always jumping in to support her sisters and their dreams too. This is how we see her dreams and her ‘heart of gold’.
The movie plays with a stylized animation, glowing lines out of people in act breaks and singing characters names by little kids (the little girls in the movie). It’s intended as a way to connect us to the world through the eyes of the girls and Goldie’s childish view of things, contrasted against the real, harsh, actual reality of New York City around them. Shortly into the movie, Goldie steals a few hundred dollars from her mother’s boyfriend, so we know she crosses ethical boundaries.
Film Movement
But what’s her goal, and the reason we care? It’s a coat, a gold mink stole that Goldie covets and imagines will make her untouchably glamorous. Goldie gets a chance by a friend to dance in a music video for a local well known rapper, and it’s that end goal that drives everything. It’s the saving grace to all the hardship, especially worse when her mother gets arrested — Goldie immediately grabs her sisters and runs, hoping to avoid being broken up by Child Services.
It’s not really sustainable, we know that, and Goldie jumps from person to person, trying to figure out a real solution that we know is impossible. The coat is the goal she knows will fix everything, so she tries everything she can, anything at all, no matter how degrading or troubling. So it’s ultimately very sad when things don’t work out, even when of course we have anticipated it.
Slick Woods is an engaging lead here, and maybe if not everything works among the supportive cast (many feel more like local people trying to act), she feels like a real part of this world. Her dreams are endearing, and it’s easier to forgive her minor crimes — even if I didn’t entirely buy into her connection with her sisters, because they seemed almost like side considerations to her.
Ultimately the movie is a nice change of pace from a lot of the indie films out there, and although I may not think much of this movie again in the future, I think Slick Woods does have some real potential for something more and maybe more substantive. She’s an interesting personality and I think really elevated the material.
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