_**Gloomy and painful drama about a fudged-up family in the Eastern sticks**_
After a mother (Juliette Lewis) goes to prison for shooting her husband in a backwater town in the Eastern USA, a young man (Alex Pettyfer) has to forsake college and take care of his three younger sisters, including a teenage hellion (Nicola Peltz). Meanwhile a wife who lives down the lane catches his interest (Jennifer Morrison).
"Back Roads" (2018) is a melancholy psychological family drama with a crime element that could be classified as Southern Gothic. While the events take place in Western Pennsylvania they could occur in any backwater community in the Eastern USA or Canada. The film was shot in St. Francisville, Louisiana, which is a half-hour drive north of Baton Rouge along the Mississippi.
Films that come to mind include “Mud” (2012), “Joe” (2013), "Winter's Bone" (2010), “Undertow” (2004), "Snow Angels" (2007), “Monster’s Ball” (2001) and “The Fugitive Kind” (1960). The flick leaves you with a bad taste because it deals with some ugly things and features painful emotions, not to mention it’s unrelentingly gloomy. If you think your family growing up was dysfunctional, you ain’t seen nothing. But, if you reflect on the movie and the understated clues, everything makes sense and is well-written, based on Tawni O'Dell 1999 novel. Just don’t expect a pleasant time.
The film runs 1 hour, 41 minutes.
GRADE: B-/C+
guns.razors.knives
March 22, 2026
8
The emotional weight of this movie is impeccable, for the two oldest Altmyer children, in your mind you know that they are commiting acts out of the ordinary and may be frowned upon, but considering the fact that they are products of their not-so-sweet upbringing, you can't help but think of nothing but sorrow.
The film is not an intensely gripping thriller but there's that element of allure that just keeps you glued to the screen, even though a little predictable, you never really really know what you're going to into in the next scenes. The main characters are messed up, that's just it, but little Jodie is the glimmer of hope for me.
3.899/5 rating
