Turn the River (2008)

captures the scant, fetid tone of broken down pool halls and cracked glass bars infested with third-rate hustlers and frat boys slumming for a hustle

No glamorized games here, just a bleak look at a bleak story of a woman trying to crawl her way up from a life of limited options.

What Eigeman needs is a stronger sense of style and storytelling if he wants to elevate the material past the stock indie-miserabilism mark.

It's a bumpy film, and though no one may see it, it's impossible to imagine it playing as gracefully, like its effectively open-ended finale, without Janssen's conviction to her role.

Turn the River, sometimes like Kailey herself and sometimes not, has a laudable habit of pulling back at the right moments and proving its mettle in unexpected ways.