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Powder Blue

Powder Blue

Drama · 2009

On the gritty streets of LA, the destinies of four people desperate for connection and redemption are about to collide.

Movie details

Powder Blue

“Every life has a breaking point.”

2009 Drama 1h 46m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

On the gritty streets of LA, the destinies of four people desperate for connection and redemption are about to collide.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Powder Blue?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.

The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones

Fantasy · 2009

After being brutally murdered, 14-year-old Susie Salmon watches from heaven over her grief-stricken family -- and her killer. As she observes their daily lives, she must balance her thirst for revenge with her desire for her family to heal.

Dog Pound

Dog Pound

Drama · 2010

Three juvenile delinquents arrive at a correctional center and are put under the care of an experienced guard.

Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station

Drama · 2013

Oakland, California. Young Afro-American Oscar Grant crosses paths with family members, friends, enemies and strangers before facing his fate on the platform at Fruitvale Station, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.

Breakthrough

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Drama · 2019

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Awakenings

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Drama · 1990

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Levity

Levity

Crime · 2003

Manuel Jordan is a man who is free after serving 23 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery. After nearly two decades of staring at his victim's face on a newspaper clipping in his cell, the newly paroled man seeks redemption. Instead, redemption—in the form of a mysterious minister and two needy women— finds him.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Timothy Linh Bui

Written by

Timothy Linh Bui · Stephane Gauger

Jessica Biel

Jessica Biel

Rose Johnny

Eddie Redmayne

Eddie Redmayne

Qwerty Doolittle

Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker

Charlie

Ray Liotta

Ray Liotta

Jack Doheny

Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

Velvet Larry

Lisa Kudrow

Lisa Kudrow

Sally

Kris Kristofferson

Kris Kristofferson

Randall

Court is in session

Put Powder Blue on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.