Holly should have been the supreme eye-opener of 2007. This heartfelt, fictional examination of the sex trafficking industry is crucial for awareness about the world’s most despicable moneymaker: child prostitution. After a sprint through the 2006 and 2007 festival circuits, the film received a limited theater release in late ’07, where it lingered in silver screen obscurity. Finally granted a DVD release, Guy Moshe’s second feature has another chance to spread the words that unfortunately need to be said.
Although dealing with such incendiary subject matter, Moshe and co-screenwriter Guy Jacobson constructed a relatively tame script. Rather than overwhelm audiences with disturbing graphic content, non-sexual events sculpt this film about the Cambodian sex trafficking industry, such as in the opening scene where Vietnamese Holly (Thuy Nguyen, in a slam-dunk debut performance) is viciously chased by two brothel overseers. After her capture and return, she is threatened by her female pimp to never run again – or they’ll go and take her younger sister as well. Fortune steps in when American card shark and stolen artifacts dealer Patrick (Ron Livingston) gets his motorcycle fixed near the brothel and befriends Holly.
Their relationship doesn’t blossom as much as it lingers. Nguyen’s authenticity cements their awkward miscommunications; Livingston plays off her with a weary subtlety, gradually evolving into a big brother figure. He’s been in Cambodia for quite some time and the cultural barriers surrounding him have taken their toll. What results is a tender bond between two strangers clinging to each other for very different reasons, and when another pimp purchases the still-virgin and potentially lucrative Holly, Patrick scours the country for her.
Along with the film’s subdued pacing, Moshe’s sparse sound design allows a vividly real and unbiased look into Cambodian lifestyle. He coaxes an alienated world through his supporting cast. Udo Kier give a discomforting cameo as a German visitor keen on frequenting younger women, while fellow Cambodian civilians, pimps and victims erect the barriers of Patrick’s isolation. His search for Holly is slow, but nonetheless captivating and heartwarming. Moshe perfectly conveys the persevering humanity man has maintained even in such a tumultuous era.
While not a very graphic film, Holly is not an easy one. The gravity and depth of the sex trafficking industry becomes painfully apparent when a young boy tries to sell Patrick a five-year-old girl. The casual demeanor of his salesmanship, disturbing in its own right, shows a side of man with no regard for other lives, while Patrick’s altruistic attempt to save Holly displays the other side. But as a humanitarian informs Patrick, this is a problem difficult to stop without inadvertently embracing its demand; save one girl and they will take another. Perhaps this DVD will provide an alternate method of putting this industry to rest. Moshe’s vision is clear and well conceived; it just needs its deserving audience.
by Jory Spadea
