“Kids are tiny miracles that somehow become people.” This, at its heart, is what Sweet Thing is about: the miracles of youth and adolescence before becoming part of the cycle we call life. For Nico and Billie (both played Rockwell’s real-life kids) though, it becomes increasingly difficult when caught in an endless cycle of violence. The adults in this world that Rockwell has built, have never grown up.

Rockwell shoots the film in a beautiful monochromatic black and white, starting in the streets of a small Massachusetts town that feels lost in time. Billie, the older sister and, her younger brother Nico run around without any supervision, side hustling to pop tires that a local mechanic gives them petty cash for. It feels post-apocalyptic and there’s also no sight of digital technology throughout the film, the only sense of modernity we get is a high octane Nerf gun Billie lifts from a Wal-Mart for her little brother. Their home is where the trouble lies. A drunken, mall Santa played by a superb Will Patton is not tasked with raising them. Even when it’s Christmas, it does not feel like winter as there’s no snow and the kids are still dressed like it’s spring, adding to the sense of dread and limbo state. Every night Billie has to help her stupefied dad just so he can get to work the next day and even then he becomes increasingly unstable to the point where Nico and Billie have to move onward.

This is where life repeats itself. Their estranged mother (Rockwell’s wife Karyn Parsons) who finally decides to help them out is also a drunken mess. Her boyfriend - a low-grade Hulk Hogan impersonator at best, who parades around in sparkled underwear and an American flag bandana - is no good either, as he uses the abuse he undertook as a child as an excuse to hit Nico. Rockwell makes it very clear that there are adults who have no idea what to do with their time, that boredom is an excuse for acting like mad drunks. The violence is all the more reason for the kids to hit the road.

The director does his best to find and show the poetry in motion for kids who want and need liberation from the people who have turned their world into disasters but also need a safe place to call home. Billie will sit and sing her favorite tune, Van Morrison’s “Sweet Thing” as a brief escape. We also get some gorgeous handheld shots of the kids weaving through the streets with the sun kissing the lens and the nights on the beach with fireworks lighting up the night sky. Rockwell does his best to make things sparkle for these kids. As in the dad's home, the blinds shimmer with bright white beads when the sun catches them at the right time, and a tiny fish tank that glistens with color in a scene reminiscent of Coppola’s Rumble Fish.

Rockwell has a vision, formally, that never feels out of place. Like the voice-overs from Billie that help pass the time along or when the kids are filmed from a distance and colored subtitles appear on the screen. It’s all part of the essence of the film, helping move the story forward, naturally.

Nico and Billie are both great, they’re tasked with keeping it together while the adults begin to crumble under their bad habits. You feel their natural abilities as actors and maturity but also trust Rockwell’s direction because it all seems effortless. Most of the people appearing in the film are non-actors or it’s their first time except Patton and his wife Parsons but never does that hinder a scene from believability. It’s a harrowing but hopeful tale and one, that if it spent too much time in the mud, could’ve been depressing.

May 7 Film Review: Sweet Thing

May 8 Book Review: Looking at Photography

May 6 Woman Crush Wednesday: Stacy Mehrfar

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