Evergreen

A single mother and her 14-year-old daughter, Henri, arrive in Everett, Washington. They move in'with Henri's Latvian grandmother in a rundown house. Henri's mother says: ''It's gonna be different this time. We're gonna step up.'' But Henri stopped listening a long time ago.
Writer-director Enid Zentelis has made her feature debut with the certainty and skills of an experienced director. This social realistic story shows America's working poor, but also the problems of a teenage girl not wanting to identify with her trailer trash background. Henri seeks happiness through her rich boyfriend Chat by trying to be a part of his family.
Through Chat's alcoholic gambling father and depressed agoraphobic mother, Henri learns that money can't buy happiness.
With outstanding performances by Addie Land, Cara Seymor and Mary Kate Place, Zentelis portrays people in a class divide context. Using the full capacity of angles through track-shots, crane-shots, close-ups, and so on, Zentelis shows us the inspiring landscapes of North West America, as well as the contrast between the rich and the poor in Everett. The result is moving, yet unromanticized.

NATALIE MAJERSKI