MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Konterr Brilliant and touching

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

LeonLouisRicci It's not really plain dirty it is forever filthy. Even the scenes in the rich guys world are stereotypical Southern sleaze that are darkly lit and dusty with layers of sunlight fighting to get in. The folks all look like they are in desperate need of soap and water. So much so that it distracts scene after scene as the viewer is remotely washing these people from their seats.It is supposedly "realistic" and non Hollywood but to what end. It is so overdone that makeup probably worked overtime and therein it lies. Too much emphasis on the visual and not enough on the motivations or the believability of the characters and plot. It is clichéd and fails to grab hold in the clinch. Even the central murder scene is half-hearted and so low key that it just fails to be of any significance except to say, we are not being exploitive here. We will do that with the muck and mire and the scabs and puss.it has some craft work and is not without worth, but the movie is just too heavy handed. The film falls into the White Trash swamp and never rises and is nothing more than a fantasy for trapped, abused women. But even they are not given the catharsis they need. So it all emerges from the dark and the damp as a not so clever, less than satisfying, story of a girl with grit.

screamingfoot I watched this all the way through one night until about 2am and couldn't look away. Dominique Swain is phenomenal as the lead in this film and I have to say, I've yet to see a better portrayal of Southern white trash than that depicted by Swain and her counterpart. To use a film review cliché (that I hate), Swain "sizzles" in this film. There are SO many layers to her performance, I'm dumbfounded as to why she's not being cast in more mainstream films.The writing in particular has some really nice poetic aspects to it which were a welcome element.All aspects of the film are top notch - writing, score, production design, cinematography - it's ALL good..

Robin Cook My heavens, why such a low star score!! This was a very well done movie in all aspects of theater, given the storyline plot is one commonly hackneyed. This movie isn't in the Cat On A Hot Tin Roof notch, but it sure did play a close second in the intensity department! This wasn't of the style of Billy Bob Thornton in Chrystal or Redford in Gatsby, but you got the hillbilly gal semi-tushing her way into the wishful richer world and get out of her backwoods living. The direction, casting, styles and acting were all topnotch and keeps you anticipating more unto the very end. I do get weary of movies using cornfields as inexpensive scenes in these types (and others) of movies (and it was a little whacked to see a Kansas type cornfield not far from a swamp), but it fit well in this movie for the short use they made of it with Officer Avon and Flowers characters ... it was ideal for that particular important scene and it set a motif for next scenes very well. Photography was done very well with good angles, and for once! a decent background music score. I do get weary of dueling banjos even though I really like it, but it wouldn't be suitable to have an association of Deliverance here. It was just all very well put together and the movie just flows.Too many movies have come across with backwood hicks being stupid or racists and other such stereotyping. This movie put more meat into the character developments with serious and calculated depth. Even tho the Inez character obviously had a hard streak about her, her manipulations were upfront and honest, with rational reasoning to stomp her steps through the movie. You can't help but like, admire and pity her and yet be accompanied by dismay (and minor frustration, but not annoyingly so) of her intellectual limitations to step out of her bad situation with a better solution. However, that doesn't happen in life and this movie albeit intense, was a refreshing straying from stereotyping of a battered and abused woman. I liken this movie to the level of the movie Tim, with Mel Gibson, whereby the characters are portrayed with specific complex and simplistic limitations/boundaries giving the audience the decision of forming their own separate opinion(s) of each characterization instead of the director "telling" you this-or-that is what you should be thinking.Would I watch this movie again? I probably wouldn't rent it again, but would watch it again, but would need to be mentally geared for another viewing. This was a rather deep movie to take the first time around, and is probably why others gave it a lower score. I would recommend watching it, but would say if you're more into less mental type movies, this would not be your cup of tea.

everythingpink This is one of those films. The kind that stays with you for days. Continues to haunt you with the beauty of its images. Stirs up a chilling current of passion that begs to be released. One of those films that unfurls too much raw beauty not be considered a work of art. "Plain Dirty" is the first feature film (hard to believe) for AFI grad, Director Zev Berman. A rare literary & visual triumph, this film delivers the richness of Southern landscape with a cinematic finery rarely achieved. From the opening title sequence to the last leaf of the Briar Patch, Berman proves himself a true master of detail. Combined with an emotive, suspenseful score, & a playfully sinister aura, "Plain Dirty" beckons us into its Southern Gothic world. This artful tale of true love and murder (never so magically linked) is layered with the nuance of a brilliant, young director. With references to age-old allegories, the language of "Plain Dirty" almost sings with description - thanks to screenwriter, Deborah Pryor. Berman shows the gentle & poetic restraint of a true veteran of cinema and will certainly be one to watch in the next decade of film-making. He seems to make his points in fitful stabs that penetrate your consciousness. But, a nurturer, he is quick to temper the audience's pain with humor - the kind that is born from the tragedy of real life. In this case, Southern life. A charismatic & daring director, Berman also instinctively knows when to leave his audience to its own imagery. He teasingly pans away from a much-anticipated sex scene with Dominique Swain's character, "Inez." A less mature, showy director might have "sold out" for the almost expected flash of flesh. (Particularly with leading lady, Swain, known for her erotic debut in "Lolita.") Instead, one is struck by Berman's control, his ability to whet the audience's appetite. And leave us panting in our seats for more.Berman clearly has tremendous communication with his actors. Under his direction, Swain gives a tour-de-force performance that brings her (thankfully) out of her role as "teeny-bopper sex-film Goddess," and into the realm of serious actor. In "Plain Dirty," she transcends stereotypes with the raw grit and youthful anguish of a respected performer. Emotional territory previously unclaimed by her.The juxtaposition of all of these riveting elements proves startling. And not to be missed. "Plain Dirty" is not only a work of art, but an incredible vehicle to launch Director, Zev Berman, into the forefront of today's film scene. From the likes of Berman, this is only the beginning . . .