The Girl is a very sweet little movie about a poor young mother from Texas (Abby Cornish) who attempts to smuggle Mexicans across the border to earn extra money, a somewhat desperate move she undertakes because she’s convinced she’ll never regain custody of her son without more cash. When it blows up on her, she winds up with a little girl stranded in the debacle. The story is about her attempt to come to grips with this situation.

The Girl feels like some of those great old indie films from the 90’s. It features a gritty and real depiction of being poor in America, an interesting father-daughter relationship that is sketched with old-school efficiency, and the acting from Abby Cornish and Will Patton is excellent. The central story with the girl is moving without being manipulative or overly sentimental.

I saw The Girl at Sunshine, which means it probably does not have very good distribution, but if you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it!