I watched it last night from Netflix. As with most indies, there were good things and bad things. The good, obviously, has to include Melissa Leo's lead performance. There isn't a false note to the performance, and, as is usual for her, she just disappears into her role. It's also pretty bold, as it looks as though she didn't use makeup or really anything to look better--if anything it's probably the other way around. She looks weathered and unappealing--distinctly unHollywood--and it definitely pays off.
The movie also does a good job on its visuals and evoking the details of its characters' lives. But the story is very predictable, and virtually every third act development is forseeable to such an extent as to seem telegraphed. The movie is also pretty heavy-handed, though not so much to be oppressive, and it actually works out pretty well for the movie. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't really show us too much that is new. Honestly, you can get about the same level of working class angst by listening to Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" or Springsteen's "Atlantic City" (I guess New Jersey is better than Upstate New York for working class angst?), though the movie does a better job than I expected of personalizing her struggles. I found the scene with Leo and her boss to be pretty infuriating, in exactly the right way. You really can't count on people outside of your family, and at times even within your family. And the relationship between Leo and the Native American woman who involves her in smuggling works out pretty well--it could have been a mere schematic, but it does work out as a relationship driven by mutual, escalating trust and need. Good stuff.
I generally don't like indie films like this one--they often feel like well-intentioned but failed efforts to "understand" that today's sophists watch and then pat themselves on the back for watching--but this one is an exception. I'd even go so far as to recommend it.
