An aging southerner's life collides with a young troubled girl's in an unexpected way

Rating: 9/10 (10 January 2015)

This movie is nothing like I expected it to be after seeing the trailer; less kinky, less dirty, admittedly, than the "theme" of having a young chick chained up in an aging man's house might evoke. It ended up being a pleasant surprise, a good watch. Acting is excellent, especially Ricci and Jackson, but even Timberlake surprised me by a good, human performance. All the characters who appear are believable.
The makers did a good job on accuracy; a girl who gets hit still has a bruise days later, things don't miraculously disappear overnight.
The whole film breathes, exudes the atmosphere of blues, of the American south really, really well. The imagery is at times so evocative you can almost feel the sun and smell the soil and the hot summer air. While a drama and at times grim, and definitely not a sappy Hollywood comedy, this passes as a 'feel good movie' to which I'm likely to return (re-watch).
And the soundtrack is to die for. Pure epic.