Summaries

Synopsis

"'I'm just two paychecks away from being on the street.' In the aftermath of the nation's financial crisis, Mary, a single mom with two kids, finds herself faced with that exact situation when the factory where she works closes their doors for good. Providing for her children and keeping the family together, while also maintaining some form of dignity in the process, proves to be the hardest job that Mary will ever have." Winner, Best Feature, Glass City Film Festival.

"Vivid and haunting in its realistic depiction of loss and the future, the film is a beautiful portrait of America on the fringe." - Mark Pellington, music video pioneer and Director of The Enemy Within, Blindspot, Arlington Road, U2 3D, and The Mothman Prophecies.

Review:"'The Street Where We Live' could be any street in the United States, and one that most people haven't ever visited but exists nonetheless. It is set in middle America, probably in Columbus Ohio, and features a single mom and her two teenage children at the onset of the United States' "great recession." The visuals of the factory where the mother works are outstanding -- from its opening scene where a dark workshop floor slowly lights up as an employee turns on banks of lights, to glimpses of it later as the movie characters go back there to drink beer and reminisce of better days.

The screenplay is tight, and the language / lines rememberable in a paradoxical painful and practical way, "It's not supposed to be like this" the mother tells her daughter in one of the more emotional scenes toward the end of the movie.

The film is filled with subtle metaphors - from the clunker of a car the family is forced to live in for a short amount of time, to rapid images of the daughter, son and mom juxtaposed as they each struggle during an ordinary day to go to school, look for work, and distract themselves with a guitar that the deceased father left behind.

This is a beautiful film whose characters are well developed, and a story line that doesn't need to be digested. You will feel the pain, the hope, and the sacrifice that each of the characters endure as they are thrust into an existence that none saw coming, and was all too real during the economic downturn of the late 2000s."

Everyone should see this film, if not for its entertainment value, then for its reminder that our friends and neighbors may be closer to tragedy than their cars and houses on the outside project. It's never supposed to be this way, but sometimes just is."