Actress Lori Petty turns director for this harsh and gritty drama of a young 14-year-old girl named Agnes(Jennifer Lawrence)growing up in less desirable conditions in the mid 1970s. Agnes has two younger sisters and her mother Sarah(Selma Blair) is strung out on drugs. Everyday is a struggle for survival; Agnes looking after her sisters and trying to protect them from what goes on in their home. The house is host to degenerates playing cards, drugging, drinking and whoring. Sarah allows all the activity going on in the "poker house", because she herself is a major part of it. Agnes seems to be bright in spite of battling conditions to study in and is a talented local basketball hero. Life seems so dark and miserable, but Agnes has the resilience to make it to tomorrow. After seeing Lawrence in WINTER'S BONE, I am just that more assured she is one strong actress with unlimited abilities. Blair in this role is just as sensational. Playing the little sisters Sophie Bairley and Chloe Grace Moretz prove to have exciting and worth watching futures ahead. POKER HOUSE has a strong supporting cast featuring: Bokeem Woodbine, David Alan Grier, Andrew Rothenberg and Natalie West.
Review of The Poker House
