Fenty model and Rihanna muse, Slick Woods, makes her acting debut in the low budget, highly eccentric art house film, Goldie.
From 20th Century Studios and Vice Films, Goldie tells the story of a financially struggling and unsupervised teenager whose aspirations of becoming a model/dancer are thwarted after her mother gets arrested and she is left to support her two young sisters. A gritty coming-of-age film that also includes vibrant crayon mixed media animation, director Sam de Jong creates a unique slice of life film whose artistry bursts at the seams.
Goldie (Woods) is 18-years-old and recently unemployed when her drug-dealing mother is unexpectedly locked up. With the threat of Child Protective Services looming, Goldie temporarily puts her dreams of landing a role in an upcoming music video for local legend Tiny (A$AP Ferg) to the side as she steps into the role of guardian for her two younger sisters. Desperate for financial stability – yet falling in love with a beautiful fur coat she feels will change her life – Goldie resorts to a ‘Do what it takes to survive’ mentality and enlists the help of her friend (George Sample III) to help her push drugs for a quick payday. As luck would have it, the music video opportunity also comes back around, which forces Goldie to question if her idea of fame is worth risking her ability to support her family.
Sam de Jong seems to take visual inspiration from the Safdie brothers, capturing Goldie’s Bronx neighborhood with an unrelenting grit and colorful charm. Adding to the film’s DIY aesthetic is the cast, which is a mixture of professional and non-professional actors. The lines of reality vs fiction feel blurred, but intentionally so. Sam De Jong uses Slick’s amateur actor status to his advantage; the camera lingers on her in scenes with few cutaways, which authentically highlights her emotional reaction. It’s a directorial choice that could’ve felt forced, but in this case, it feels organic and right. Goldie is a bold expression of creativity both in front of and behind the scenes; supporting a film like this is paramount to showing the industry that art films matter.
Starring Slick Woods, George Sample III, Danny Hoch, A$AP Ferg
Directed by Sam de Jong
Written by Sam de Jong
Distributed by Film Movement. 88 minutes. Opening this Friday at Laemmle Glendale and On Demand.
