Movie Review - 'Holly'

Holly

Starring Ron Livingston, Thuy Nguyen, Chris Penn and Virginie Ledoyen
Directed by Guy Moshe
Rated R

So many movies make the mistake of pinning all their hopes on a good idea. Just because a movie has something original to say doesn’t mean the way it’s said makes it worth hearing. Holly depicts one man’s fight to free a 12-year-old girl sold into a Cambodian prostitution ring by her family. It is also, quite plainly, not a strong film. 

There are some disarming moments between the American (Ron Livingston from Office Space, giving a strong performance) and Holly (Thuy Nguyen), and it’s not the sort of relationship you’d expect to be at the center of a movie. The use of a fictional story set in a horrific reality and presented in a pseudo-documentary style has been done before, and it’s easily a point in this film’s favor. The rest of Holly, however, leaves you asking more questions than it ever wants to answer, and often, leads you to realizations the filmmakers probably would want to guard against. 

Director and co-writer Guy Moshe is pointing out that child prostitution is bad. In other news, smoking can lead to cancer.

Moshe is well-intentioned in shining a light on the problem, but his position seems at least under-informed; the ripple effect that should naturally arise from a movie set in this world goes note-for-note where you’d expect it to. Once the ball gets rolling, there are no surprises, just bullet points. 

Sadly, Moshe and his crew shot on location in Phnom Penh, which gives Holly a look of authenticity the story simply doesn’t match.

Holly concentrates on this quest to save a girl from a life she should never experience. But why her? And why only her? After a certain point, it smacks of being white, western civilization apologizing to the Third World, and it’s an unconvincing apology.