Kristen Stewart is absolutely fearless in “Welcome to the Rileys. That’s the takeaway from the film’s world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday afternoon. You can object all she wants with her portrayal of a 16-year-old runaway turned stripper and prostitute. But you cannot get out of a vision and say that the actress is not afraid to expose themselves physically and emotionally, and she does with astonishing maturity and credibility.
Working around dance rooms and seedy motels in New Orleans, Stewart’s character (real name of Allison, the girl working name of Mallory and many others) is a fugitive damaged with a dirty mouth and an idea still the dirtiest way to make money. There is little in this sexy teen as she prayed for the faceless men, the camera captures every grain, every dark circles under her eyes, every strand of hair fibrous Strip Club has seen too much cigarette smoke and not enough shampoo (and no, it does once you strip). Her life is going nowhere until a plumbing salesman named Doug Reilly (James Gandolfini) is presented and Allison under his wing.
Doug, too, is a fugitive, fleeing from a family life has collapsed after its 15 years since the death of the daughter of old, a trauma that has left his wife Lois (Melissa Leo) closed an anxiety ridden. He cleans Allison up, refuses her sexual advances, and what develops between the two is a dysfunctional but sweet father/daughter relationship.
What to do with Gandolfini? For one, its Doug presents a mix of rapture of brown bear and puppy, a shell of a man struggling with the indescribable loss and struggling to find a reason to get up every morning. On that other hand, he tries on—and just as easily drops—a terrible southern accent, depending on the scene. The result is a frustrating mixture of a performance that had much potential to be great.
Melissa Leo, meanwhile, is nothing short of spectacular. With an expression, a shift of the eyes, lower lip, the actress is able to communicate exactly what Lois feels and what’s more, you can make the audience identify with it. Leo lines are alternately funny and heartbreaking, and for their roots, as such, disabling anxiety than to join Doug in New Orleans and find the daughter Allison has been lost. It becomes clear that they are all damaged, and all need each other.
The film certainly has its share of mistakes, intermittently rate issues to frequent arguments that seem to arise from storytelling requirements rather than the relationships and developments between characters. But fortunately the script avoids clichés and story books to the least hours of movies that have given in.
In ‘Riley,’ Twilighters is more than anything to be shocked by more than the fulfillment of a promise panic Stewart has been hinting since 2002 the “room”: the woman is a fine, fine actress.
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