Thursday, March 4, 2021

Goldie (2019)

 

“Goldie” stars Slick Woods as the titular character who is trying to make her dreams come true while trying to keep her youngster sisters safe. It’s a heartbreaking film full of hard truths and the disillusionment that can come with your dreams. The film is full of bright colors that perfectly contrast the darker tones of New York City. 

Goldie is an eighteen year old who dreams of dancing in a music video. She lives in a shelter with her mom Carol (Marsha Stephanie Blake), her two younger sisters (Jazmyn C Dorsey and Alanna Renee Tyler-Tompkins) and her mom’s boyfriend (Danny Hoch). Goldie likes to think she is ready to face the world, but like most teens she isn’t. Goldie is fierce and strong and loves her sisters deeply.

Her life isn’t ideal, but things get worse when her mom is arrested for selling drugs and she and her sisters take to the streets before child services can take them. Goldie begins searching for ways to make money while looking for places she and her sisters can stay. The money is to be spent on a yellow fur coat for the music video of an artist named Tiny (A$AP Ferg) which is going to be her big break. You frequently see Goldie in her full music video attire in glamorous flashes throughout the film.

The fur coat is expensive and Goldie begins selling her mother’s prescription pills in order to raise the cash she needs to buy it. Along the way Goldie turns to her former teacher Janet (Edwina Findley Dickerson), her former coworker Eli (George Sample III), her father Richard (Gbenga Akinnagbe) and her on/off boyfriend José (Jose Rodriguez) for help. Most of them tell her to seek child services, but determined to keep her sisters by her side she refuses most of the help offered to her especially since the music video will allow her to start a new life with them.

Everything from the technical aspects to the performances are done beautifully. Slick Woods is great balancing Goldie’s naïveté with strength. Goldie doesn’t have a solid plan to move her and her sisters forward, but you want her to succeed despite it all. She’s tough and not someone to be messed with, but there’s a charm and vulnerability to Goldie making her memorable.

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