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A film likeLost Girlsis a different beast.
Its an anti-police procedural.
A symbol of stasis, the futility of life in the gig economy,andgood ketchup.)
Theres so much she didnt know or didnt want to know.
Then she has to overcome Suffolk County detectives implicit contempt for women engaged in a high-risk business.
After that, the murk only deepens.
Its a brave performance by Ryan hard, un-ingratiating.
Does she believe that?
Ryan surprises me every time I see her.
She doesnt interpret her characters for us or maybe even for herself.
She has radar for emotions that will remain inexplicable.
Two male characters represent the Suffolk County Police.
(Burke was later imprisoned for brutality and a cover-up in an unrelated case.)
Gabriel Byrnes Richard Dormer, the Suffolk County Police Commissioner, is an altogether stranger portrait.
He plainly enjoys fucking with peoples heads.
In her fictional debut, she resists cinematic tricks, seeming to arrive at scenes along with her characters.
Nothing feels over-planned, pre-chewed.
The ambiguities are allowed to sit, unshaded by talking heads proposing theories.
Help does not arrive in the form of Sherlock Holmes, Will Graham, et al.
Kolker didnt cleave to the true-crime template or put all the emphasis on identifying the killer.
None of them could be summed up by the word prostitute.
Kolkers voice was distinctive for its easy, nonjudgmental tone.
So, to be fair, is Garbuss.
Maris youngest daughter, Sarra, who struggles with mental illness, seems to exist just outside frame.
The anti-procedural may be our greatest hope for change.
