Hold Me Down (2017)

HOLD ME DOWN official teaser from Niclas Gillis on Vimeo.
A day in life of a single mother who works as a stripper in an illegal nightclub.

I feel like I have been hit between the eyes with a large hammer. This short little trip to hell is one of the most visceral gut punches I've ever gotten at the movies.  This is a film that quietly shows the life lead by millions of people that no one is talking about.

Based on the experiences of Unique Adams, a single mom from the South Bronx, the film feels more like a documentary than a narrative. This could, the sequence in the club aside, be taken for non-fiction. This is a film that deals with real life issues in a way no one is doing- straight on and unblinkingly. There is no hope only despair and the revelation about just how much things need to change.

Containing what maybe the most perfect set of performances ever to grace the screen this film is, on a performance level, unlike anything you've ever seen. The actors are not acting they are living out their lives, since all of the women are non-actors from the South Bronx. I have never seen performances such as these, and neither have you. They put all of Hollywood to shame.

You will forgive me for not saying a great deal but I am too broken by the narrative and too in awe of the technical achievement to do anything other than sputter.

Hands down near the very top of the list of the best films I've seen in 2018 and for many other years as well

It will be released exclusively on Vimeo at 11.59 pm on March 8, 2018