| Cash for Gold is an interesting choice for a title for a small, lovely, downtrodden drama about poverty, depression, and community coming together. It is uplifting at the end, and it is well written and acted so that the depressing nature never overwhelms the movie. Grace (Deborah Puette) is a broke, recovering alcoholic, widowed, single mother, who can’t find work in a small town and makes a desperate plea at the local Cash for Gold pawn shop. | | 2024
Directed by: Robert Enriquez, Deborah Puette
Screenplay by: Deborah Puette
Starring: Deborah Puette, Farshad Farahat
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I tend to stay away from depressing dramas about how much life sucks, but the humanity behind Grace and the movie as a whole jumps out immediately, so it becomes a compelling character portrait about maintaining hope in the face of adversity. Even though Grace is on the verge of losing her home and her car and work keeps drying up, the film knows how to hang on to what she does have (a cute son, and a smart and determined attitude) to get to the next plot point.
She first shows up at the pawn shop to sell a necklace and her wedding ring. In what she believes is an attempt to rip her off by buying her necklace at a low price, she becomes desperate and bargains with her wedding ring. The poor manager wants none of it and just wants her to leave, speaking in Farsi in the background (which the audience is not privy to until later), they write her off as a drug addict. As Grace drives off, the owner puts a Help Wanted sign in the window. Grace then returns and pitches herself for the job.
What follows is a very thoughtful examination of a friendship born from desperation between two people often thought of to be on opposing sides. Grace is a white woman from rural Minnesota who was married to a man in the military who fought in Afghanistan. Hasan is a Muslim immigrant from Iran.
The first two thirds of this movie is a well written, very nicely composed portrait of rural America and the struggle to keep finding hope and finding community connection. The characters are all multi-dimensional, the acting is great across the board, and the cinematography paints the perfect depiction of that part of the country. It can be cold and lonely, but you can find neighbours when you need to.
The final act of the movie is a bit of a letdown. It goes for the big dramatic climax and then rushes the ending, new pieces of information about the characters are thrown at us without time for reflection and everything gets quickly tied together in a nice big bow and an overwrought montage. While it is a noticeable dip in the quality of the writing, seemingly in an attempt to get the movie done, everything that comes before it is a lovely and thoughtful depiction of poverty, depression, community and friendship.
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