By Jessica Gregorio Starring: Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr, Keith Stanfield, Kaitlyn Dever ![]() 24-year old Grace is one of the staff members at a temporary residential home for foster children and troubled teenagers. She works with her boyfriend, Mason (who was also a foster child) and tries to improve the lives of the children there. A new girl, Jayden, arrives and all of the staff is alerted of her tendency to self-harm. Jayden doesn’t interact with the other teenagers and distances herself because she knows that her father will pick her up soon. Grace and Jayden connect and start talking to each other after Grace shows Jayden her own scars from her self-harming. Grace and Mason also plan a birthday party for Marcus, one of the residents who is soon turning 18 and will be released from the facility. Marcus is nervous about being released because he doesn’t know anybody in the real world, other than his mother (who made him sell drugs as a child). As Grace is dealing with this, she finds out that she is pregnant, which worries her. Grace was sexually abused by her father as a teenager and she was put in the foster care system when he went to jail. She doesn’t know if she is ready to have and raise a child. All the abuse that Grace suffered makes it difficult to express her feelings and connect with people. It is because of this that she is having trouble deciding on whether to keep the child or not. She doesn’t open up to her boyfriend even though he tries to help her. As Grace is struggling to balance her life and work, she gets news that her father is being released from prison. Things start turning for the worst at the residential home. Jayden reads Grace a story about an octopus. Grace suspects that the story is an analogy for abuse and tells her to talk to a social worker. Jayden says that she’s afraid. About two weeks before Marcus will be released, he commits suicide. He breaks the tank and uses the glass to slit his wrists. While Grace is in the hospital with Mason she breaks down and tells him that she wants to abort and that she doesn’t want to marry him. Jayden gets picked up by her father and has to live with him. Grace gets angry and fears for Jayden because of the things that she’s said about him. Grace goes to Jayden’s house, ready to hurt her father when Jayden comes out of her room and tells Grace that she’ll talk to a social worker about the sexual abuse that she has to suffer. Grace finally starts talking about her problems and her feelings with Marcus, and even moves out. Jayden also ends up getting help. This movie was created by Destin Daniel Cretton as his thesis project for his Master’s degree at San Diego State University. Cretton based the film off of what he experienced as a two-year staff member at a temporary foster residence. The film discusses/contains: sexual abuse, suicide, drug abuse, and profanity.
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