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Reviews
A Child's Voice (2018)
Compelling and Inspirational
I am thrilled to highly recommend this film. As a social worker, I greatly appreciate the tough subjects that No Restrictions Entertainment addresses and the loving, social justice-oriented perspective that John Paul Rice brings to these films.
John's work has always tackled important social issues and difficult interpersonal dynamics in an approachable, multidimensional human way that is not often seen in film. John's current work, A Child's Voice, builds upon this rich history with an impressive cast that truly brings this story to life. Children that survive horrific sexual abuse and sex trafficking are seldom given a voice in our popular culture, and yet A Child's Voice not only gives them a voice but an avenue for justice for the crimes committed against them. These crimes may be difficult for some to fully comprehend, and yet the silence and absence of dialogue about these crimes only serve to exacerbate their negative ramifications for the children and families involved. Child sexual abuse and human trafficking is more common than most realize. A Child's Voice is critically important for social workers, law enforcement, and the general public in order to enable conversations and actions needed to stop child sexual abuse and sex trafficking, and help spread the love, understanding, and knowledge survivors need from us to heal as best they can.
A Nice Quiet Life (2018)
When a young man's future collides with schizophrenia
Watching someone struggle with mental illness is never easy, and even harder when you are in love with the person suffering. This film is about two young men, Jeremy and Scott, trying to succeed in college while navigating the challenges in forming a romantic relationship with each other and learning how to cope when Scott develops schizophrenia. Watching a loved one slip into deep schizophrenia is particularly challenging on many levels, a process Jeremy accurately describes as "I feel like I'm going crazy." My heart broke many times watching Scott travel deeper and deeper into his illness. Unfortunately these struggles with mental health are all too common, and while untreated mental illness is an avoidable tragedy in this country, this film deftly lays bare the struggles faced by those coming to terms with their mental illness. No Restrictions Entertainment has a reputation for creating unflinching astute portrayals of the human condition in struggle; we get to watch characters make tough, individual choices to cope and persevere, and are reminded that these choices are easier when surrounded by supportive loved ones. Hopefully you walk away thinking about your own choices and are reminded to be supportive of those struggling.
Side observations: Scott looks like a young Michael Hutchence and has an awesome, rotating collection of funny cooking aprons.
Mother's Red Dress (2011)
An honest, unflinching journey to hope
Why is running away from problems so seductive even though it never works to solve them? What does it really take for people to change? The film Mother's Red Dress invites the viewer to explore these questions, to have an honest, unflinching dialog with ourselves and reflect on our own experiences and behaviors, and, if we are willing to do the work, shows us a path in which we can chose to triumph over our own adversity to find a place of peace and hope.
I think the film poignantly captures the crazy- making orbit and trajectory of abuse, i.e., that oh-so-personal walk through someone's head feeling and wondering if these oh-my-God- horrific experiences are real. So often experiences with abuse make us feel crazy, as if we did something wrong to cause this unfathomable crap torrent upon us. It is lived insanity and crazy-making personified, except it's not because it is real and it's happening to you and when we're children, there may not be a damn thing we can do about it. I hope the folks I know who have survived terrible abuse and incest see this film. The film touched upon some places I have traveled in my own life, and revisiting those chapters was not easy.
In the end, however, I think the main character in Mother's Red Dress is ultimately fortunate, for how often in real life do we act upon the chance to confront that which made us who we are, truly face those chapters of our stories that form our own individual constitutions, our character, however painful they may be? We cannot undo them anymore than we can UN-spill milk. Every day we make choices about the kind of person we will be in this world, even if some of us due to abusive experiences are more acutely aware of the effect we can have on others. While some may say we suffer the sins of our fathers, every single day we can chose how we respond to them and choose to build our own capacity to heal and grow and thrive.