Walk Backwards

Laurie Maria Baranyay makes her feature debut with this raw gritty character study of a young woman struggling to come to terms with herself The film centers on Mikey a lass sporting vintage threads platinum blonde hair and a series of ugly bruises on her face At the movies outset Mikey has a woodland rendezvous with her thuggish boyfriend Adam After a round of unsatisfactory sex Adam starts to heap drunken abuse upon her after Mikey reveals that she has to be at her sisters birthday party where Adam is expressly not invited Mikey eventually stumbles in to the party late which infuriates her family who cannot understand why she continues to date such a loser as Adam But Mikey continues to stand by her man and the physical abuse he inflicts on her Later she has more runins with her sisters and a sleazy exbeau who rapes her on a bathroom floor When morning dawns Mikey and her mother have a heartwrenching talk