Movie Review: On the Outs

Are you tired of movies that say they are about life on the streets..the real tough stuff, but are cop outs? Check out the docu-drama On the Outs for a very real tale of young women caught up in a down and out world they can't control. The subject matter is tough but the tales will touch your heart.

In a rough Jersey City neighborhood, being-tough-to-survive, 17-year-old Oz (Judy Marte, "Juicy Judy" from "Raising Victor Vargas") deals drugs, while her addict mom (Ana "Rok" Garcia) struggles to kick her habit. 15-year-old good girl Suzette (Anny Mariano) is seduced by a drug dealer (Clarence Hutchinson) and stands by her dirty dog man even though he treats her badly and gets her in trouble with the police. 17-year-old crack smoking single mom Marisol (Paola Mendoza) loves her baby daughter but loses her to the child welfare system when she lands in juvie jail where the three girls meet.

On the Outs is very hard to take.. watching these girls struggle with the odds so against them is heartbreaking but the acting, mostly from unknowns, is amazing and the film's directors, Lori Silverbush and Michael Skolnik actually met in New York's Hudson County Juvenile Detention Center so they should know what they are talking about and filming. The look of the film is as raw and natural as the story it is telling.

You get mad at the girls but see why they can't break the poverty and desperation cycle although, by film's end, we get the idea that one of them will try. This short movie has won a ton of film festival prizes and deservedly so. Check to see if it is showing in your area and go take it in. You might identify with one of the girls. If not, you'll get a real glimpse into what life on the drug-infested streets for young women is really all about and maybe turn a more sympathetic eye toward some of the female victims you pass in the night.

For a well executed wake up call, 5 out of 5 stars

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.