With 3 new clips available ahead of its release, buzz is steadily building for “The Girl,” the first feature in over a decade from NY based writer-director David Riker. Riker’s previous work “The City (La Ciudad),” a quartet of neo-realist vignettes detailing the experiences of Latin American immigrants in New York, evoked a strong critical response and picked up a handful of awards on the indie festival circuit. “The Girl” returns to the subject of immigration and stars Abbie Cornish, who impressed in Jane Campion‘s sensuous 2009 John Keats biopic “Bright Star” and has since gone on to supporting roles in “Limitless,” “Sucker Punch” and “Seven Psychopaths.”
Cornish plays a troubled single mother living hand-to-mouth in the fraught territory of the Texas-Mexico border. After accepting a job driving illegal immigrants across the border, she finds her fate entangled with that of a young Mexican girl. Riker has said he spent a significant amount of time researching the region in which the story takes place, a real-life illegal immigration hotspot, in order to pick apart the complexities of such an emotive issue as sensitively as possible (full Tribeca interview here).
The film was supported by the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award and comes from Journeyman Pictures, the production house that made “Beasts of the Southern Wild“, “Another Earth” and “Half Nelson” amongst many others. Well received at Tribeca, with Cornish attracting particular praise, “The Girl” is on limited release in New York from Friday with Q&A with director and star after the Lincoln Center screening.
