Rent All Over Me (1997)

A great character based indie. - All Over Me review by CP Customer

Claude is a 15 year old girl living in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City. At the start of the summer school vacation Claude and her childhood best friend Ellen spend their time hanging out on the streets, in Claude’s bedroom and talking of forming a band. When Ellen begins dating Mark the local drug dealer she quickly spirals into a life of drug and alcohol abuse and late night partying and their long time friendship soon becomes strained. When Claude befriends Luke, a musician who moves into her apartment building and who is murdered soon after, Ellen reveals to Claude she witnessed Luke’s murder and begs her not to say anything to anyone, Claude is then forced to weigh the value of her relationship with Ellen against that of her own conscience. It’s a real shame that this is the one and only film the Sichel sisters ever made as it’s a great example of independent film-making at its best, and even from this one film you get the sense Alex and Sylvia Sichel could have gone on to make some interesting films. Alison Folland and Tara Subkoff are great as the two friends whose close friendship is slowly disintegrating. The direction and story are well paced and engaging and the excellent 90’s ‘Riot Grrrl’ soundtrack is a perfect match for the movie. If you enjoy low key character based indie films then this is a must see, and if you enjoy this you should also check out Alison Folland in the equally good ‘Milwaukee Minnesota’.