Where can you find an dynamic $100,000 (approx. according to IMDB) budget movie with some fairly well-known talent and an extremely exquisite setting, AND get quality, intensity and a powerful pro-life message? The answer is almost nowhere! Well, all of these things can be found in UNTOUCHED - The Movie (2017). Excellent casting by Executive Producer Angelique Chase, a well-known actress led to a phenomenal job with her team in maximizing resources to produce the best Indie film I can remember seeing.
Based on a true story, UNTOUCHED takes place in a small town around beautiful Savannah, Georgia where a troubled, but wealthy attorney, Mitchell Thomas (played by Chip Lane of Sponge Bob Movie; Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies etc.) is called on to reluctantly represent the teenage daughter of a local pastor. The teen, Jacqueline, was charged with the murder and abandonment of her aborted child, in what first appears to be an open and shut case. This case, however, is the engine which powers the deeper story behind this well-written movie.
Indie films on smaller budgets do not have this high caliber of courtroom drama, with its clues of what lies behind the troubled soul of the main character - Mitch Thomas. He is the son of the very uppity, yet classy Eleanor Thomas who actually owns the law firm. Eleanor Thomas is played by the ageless Simone Griffeth, who is just barely tolerant of this heavy drinking, unkempt (but expensive clothes). Eleanor also has her own issues, having given up a personal life, in order to maintain control over her thriving law firm.
What makes this movie grow in intensity is the supporting cast of great characters, fortified by a flawless performance by Jenn Gotzon as prosecutor Reece James; Chelsea Caldwell as Lauren Haddad and Christopher Watson as Taylor Gant, Thomas' trusted friend. The drama deepens as both Mitch the attorney and Gant, his police officer friend, start investigating the story behind Jacqueline's abortion and arrest for murder of her unborn child.
The parallel story line is woven perfectly by circumstances and one particular scene especially featuring Jenn Gotzon's prosecutor character and actress Sandra Elise Williams starts to reveal the real reason why Mitch drinks so heavily, overshadows the murder case as far as getting to a defining moment, in Mitch's character development.
This Indie film is so very compatible with those with the really big budgets due to a very clever screenplay, a cast who is completely all in for the long haul and some gritty lighting. As beautiful as Savannah, Georgia is, the dark reality of the plot/subplot comes across with atmospherics created by the producers. The fact that some of the main people involved are Georgians help in creating an authentic aura about Untouched. The cinematography is just so well done as well as the primary musical score.
