The movie chronicles the life of Astrid, a 15-year-old teen who journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother is sent to prison for life for committing a crime of passion.
Though it flirts with bathos and pathos and the further Oprahfication of the world as we know it, it still cuts all the way down to broken bone.
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
December 01, 2003
The daughter's story is often haunting, but Peter Kosminsky's film . . . comes unglued because the mother is the stock psychotic villainess of countless Hollywood films.
Common Sense Media
December 29, 2010
Upsetting and dark, for older than PG-13.
Ebert & Roeper
October 14, 2002
The film is worth seeing for its honest heart and for the magnificent acting.
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
June 25, 2004
Lohman appears in nearly every scene and gives an assured, sympathetic performance as Astrid.
