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Jolene

Jolene

Drama · 2010

A teenage orphan spends ten years traveling to experience life.

Movie details

Jolene

“A life between the exit signs.”

2010 Drama 2h 1m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

A teenage orphan spends ten years traveling to experience life.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Jolene?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Pimp

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The Poker House

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Sleepwalking

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Welcome to the Rileys

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Years after their teenage daughter’s death, Lois and Doug Riley, an upstanding Indiana couple, are frozen by estranging grief. Doug escapes to New Orleans on a business trip. Compelled by urgencies he doesn’t understand, he insinuates himself into the life of an underage hooker, becoming her platonic guardian.

The Babysitters

The Babysitters

Drama · 2008

Seventeen-year-old Shirley is a good student who works as a babysitter in order to make money for college. One night Michael, a father Shirley works for, confesses he's unhappy with married life. Shirley has a crush on Michael, and seizes this moment to kiss him. Michael is so happy he presents Shirley with a big tip, which gives her an idea. Shirley plans to make extra money by setting up her teenage friends with other unhappy fathers.

The Rain People

The Rain People

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When a housewife finds out she is pregnant, she runs out of town looking for freedom to reevaluate her life decisions.

Trafficked

Trafficked

Drama · 2017

In this story inspired by real characters, three girls from America, Nigeria and India are trafficked through an elaborate global network and enslaved in a Texas brothel, and must together attempt a daring escape to reclaim their freedom.

American Honey

American Honey

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A restless teenager escapes her troubled home and joins a traveling crew of young drifters selling magazines across the American Midwest. Immersed in a world of reckless partying, risky hustles, and fleeting romances, she searches for freedom and belonging on the open road.

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

Drama · 2004

Young Jeremiah lives in a stable environment with loving foster parents until the day his troubled mother, Sarah, returns to claim him. Jeremiah becomes swept up in his mother's dangerous world of drugs, seedy hotels, strip joints and revolving lovers. Salvation comes in the form of the boy's ultrareligious grandparents, but soon Jeremiah's mother returns. Maternal love binds the pair together on the road until Sarah's desperate and depraved lifestyle finally consumes her.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Dan Ireland

Written by

E. L. Doctorow · Dennis Yares

Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain

Jolene

Frances Fisher

Frances Fisher

Cindy

Rupert Friend

Rupert Friend

Coco Leger

Dermot Mulroney

Dermot Mulroney

Uncle Phil

Zeberiah Newman

Zeberiah Newman

Mickey

Denise Richards

Denise Richards

Marin

Theresa Russell

Theresa Russell

Aunt Kay

Court is in session

Put Jolene on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.