144 minutes | crime drama | R
Release date: March 12, 2008
Director: Erick Zonca
Writers: Michael Collins, Camille Natta (adaptation), Erick Zonca (writer), Aude Py (co-writer)
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Aidan Gould, Saul Rubinek, Kate del Castillo
The film was inspired by the John Cassavetes film Gloria. Julia, 40, is an alcoholic. She is a manipulative, unreliable, compulsive liar, all strung out beneath her still flamboyant exterior. Between shots of vodka and one-night stands, Julia gets by on nickel-and-dime jobs. Increasingly lonely, the only consideration she receives comes from her friend Mitch, who tries to help her. But she shrugs him off, as her alcohol-induced confusion daily reinforces her sense that life has dealt her a losing hand and that she is not to blame for the mess she has made of it. Glimpsing imminent perdition, and after a chance encounter with Elena, a Mexican woman, Julia convinces herself–as much in panic and despair as for financial gain–to commit a violent act. As the story unfolds, Julia’s journey becomes a headlong flight on a collision course, but somehow she makes the choice of life over death.