Aging out of foster care, Friday’s Child follows 18-year-old Richie (Tye Sheridan), trying to make it alone despite the odds stacked against him.
Shot in Waco, TX, a town that adds real texture and personality to the screen, Richie convinces a foreman to give him a job on his construction site, and then pools what scraps of money he can get together to pay the advance on a room in one of the least desirable neighbourhoods in town. Richie – at least for now – is able to keep his head above ground.
But then it was never going to actually be that easy, and almost simultaneously come his saviour and his curse. A chance meeting sees Richie befriend Joan (Imogen Poots), a well-off 20-something working through some issues of her own. While he also meets Swim, an eccentric drifter and the devil on the other shoulder, who pulls Richie back into a life of petty crime, just when everything had been looking so good.
Building to a hugely powerful conclusion, with Richie feeling trapped by his circumstances, when he breaks for the Texan desert, the film swaps 3:2 for anamorphic widescreen, a striking visual metaphor for his newfound sense of freedom. In fact the whole film looks visually stunning, written and directed by longtime Terrence Mallick collaborator, A.J. Edwards, you can see Mallick’s visual style has rubbed off on Edwards with tremendous effect.
The film rests on very mature, moving performances from Tye Sheridan and Imogen Poots, though Caleb Landry Jones strays the wrong side of the line, and his melodrama does come close to overpowering the film.
Friday’s Child is a nuanced film; a beautiful yet sobering, even haunting piece. The film opens with real-life interviews with foster children, and Friday’s Child is an honest look at the issue of aging out, how some ki ds are just expected to forge a path on their own, without the necessarily guidance and support. And how sometimes we have to find a way to forgive, even in impossible circumstances.