Catch The Fair One
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''Catch the Fair One'' is a 2021 American
thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
written, directed, and produced by Josef Kubota Wladyka, based on a story by Wladyka and
Kali Reis Kali Reis (born August 24, 1986) is an American professional boxer and actress. She is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC female middleweight title in 2016 and the WBA, WBO, and IBO female light welterweight ti ...
in her film debut. It stars Reis,
Daniel Henshall Daniel Edwin Henshall (born 9 August 1982) is an Australian actor. Following his film debut in ''Snowtown'' (2011), for which he won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Henshall appeared in films such as '' The Babadook'' (2014), ...
, Tiffany Chu,
Michael Drayer Michael Drayer (born March 19, 1986) is an American actor. He is best known for his recurring role as Cisco on the television drama–thriller series ''Mr. Robot'', Gabe on the television drama series ''Deception'', and for his supporting role as ...
,
Lisa Emery Lisa Emery is an American stage, film, and television actress. Emery is best known for playing Darlene Snell on Netflix series ''Ozark''. Early life Emery was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of an aspiring actress from Charlottes ...
, Kimberly Guerrero, and
Kevin Dunn Kevin Dunn (born August 24, 1955) is an American character actor who has appeared in supporting roles in numerous films and television series since the 1980s. Dunn's roles include White House Communications Director Alan Reed in the political ...
. The plot follows a young American Indian woman and former boxer named Kaylee who voluntarily joins a sex trafficking ring to find her missing younger sister. The film premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
on June 12, 2021. It was released in the United States on February 11, 2022, by
IFC Films Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent fil ...
. The film was met with critical acclaim, with praise aimed towards the story and performances. At the
37th Independent Spirit Awards The 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films and television series of 2021, were presented by Film Independent on March 6, 2022. Traditionally held the Saturday before the Academy Awards, the 2022 date marks a shi ...
, Reis received a nomination for Best Female Lead.


Plot

Kaylee, an American Indian woman and former professional boxer, is now a drug addict living in a women's shelter and working as a waitress. Some time ago, Kaylee's younger sister Weeta was abducted and forced into prostitution by a sex trafficking ring. She is one of the hundreds of young girls who go missing every year. No one has heard of her since, and Kaylee has since been forced to conduct her own search as the authorities show no interest. After finding a lead on Weeta's whereabouts, Kaylee meets the procurer of a local trafficking ring and convinces him she is desperately in need of money. The man takes pictures, gives her drugs, and
masturbate Masturbation is a form of autoeroticism in which a person Sexual stimulation, sexually stimulates their own Sex organ, genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. Stimulation may involve the use of han ...
s while watching her undress before agreeing to contact a buyer looking for a "Native girl". Bobby is the son of the ring's kingpin, Willie. Kaylee is chloroformed, tied up, and taken by Bobby to the buyer's home. She wakes up alone in a basement and using a razor blade hidden under her tongue, she cuts herself free. Once Bobby and the buyer arrive, Bobby explains that he knows what she is trying to do and that she will never find her sister. When he leaves the room, and the buyer prepares to rape her, Kaylee pulls out the razor blade, kills the buyer, and runs away. Willie and his crew arrive to get rid of the dead body. Kaylee returns to the house and hides in Bobby's car. She sees Willie hit Bobby and order him to leave. Bobby goes home to his wife Linda (who has a black eye) and son Junior. When he leaves the room, Kaylee enters the house and ties his family up, putting tape over their mouths to stop them from screaming. Bobby returns and a fight ensues, with Kaylee using her expertise as a boxer to gain the upper hand. After tying him up, Kaylee demands information about her sister, but he refuses to answer. She stabs him in the leg, threatens to cut off Linda's ear, and begins to waterboard him. Bobby refuses to betray his father out of fear and allows himself to drown. Kaylee interrogates Linda and learns that Willie owns a
train yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or ...
where he will transport the next "batch" of kidnapped girls. Kaylee arrives at the train yard with only Bobby's gun in her possession. At gunpoint, one of Willie's truck drivers tells her that the girls are in a nearby warehouse. She finds them and tells them to escape when the procurer from before spots her. He runs away and Kaylee shoots him several times. She questions him but he begins to apologize and beg instead. Kaylee walks away, letting the procurer bleed to death. Kaylee reveals that she has hidden Linda and Junior in her car. She orders Linda to take her to Willie, who lives in a mansion. Inside the house, Linda is greeted by Willie's wife Debra, who says Willie is in the library. She mentions that Linda regularly visited them every time Bobby became aggressive. In the bathroom, Linda messages Kaylee with the correct information about where Willie is but also calls
9-1-1 911, sometimes written , is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, Iraq, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as ...
before leaving. Kaylee holds Willie at gunpoint and asks about Weeta. Debra barges into the room with a gun and accidentally shoots Willie in the face. Kaylee shoots and kills Debra as Debra shoots again, fatally wounding Kaylee in the stomach. In her final moments, Kaylee imagines what her life would have been if she had succeeded, as she envisions herself entering her comeback boxing match.


Cast

*
Kali Reis Kali Reis (born August 24, 1986) is an American professional boxer and actress. She is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC female middleweight title in 2016 and the WBA, WBO, and IBO female light welterweight ti ...
as Kaylee *
Daniel Henshall Daniel Edwin Henshall (born 9 August 1982) is an Australian actor. Following his film debut in ''Snowtown'' (2011), for which he won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Henshall appeared in films such as '' The Babadook'' (2014), ...
as Bobby * Tiffany Chu as Linda *
Michael Drayer Michael Drayer (born March 19, 1986) is an American actor. He is best known for his recurring role as Cisco on the television drama–thriller series ''Mr. Robot'', Gabe on the television drama series ''Deception'', and for his supporting role as ...
as Danny *
Lisa Emery Lisa Emery is an American stage, film, and television actress. Emery is best known for playing Darlene Snell on Netflix series ''Ozark''. Early life Emery was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of an aspiring actress from Charlottes ...
as Debra * Kimberly Guerrero as Jaya *
Kevin Dunn Kevin Dunn (born August 24, 1955) is an American character actor who has appeared in supporting roles in numerous films and television series since the 1980s. Dunn's roles include White House Communications Director Alan Reed in the political ...
as Willie * Isabelle Chester as Lisa * Sam Seward as Jeremiah * Mainaku Borrero as Weeta * Wesley Leung as Bobby Jr.


Production

''Catch the Fair One'' was shot in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
, with Ross Giardina serving as cinematographer. The film was executive produced by
Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker. His films are noted for their surreal, dramatic, and often disturbing elements, frequently in the form of psychological realism. His accolades include a Golden Lion ...
. It is the acting debut of professional boxer
Kali Reis Kali Reis (born August 24, 1986) is an American professional boxer and actress. She is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC female middleweight title in 2016 and the WBA, WBO, and IBO female light welterweight ti ...
, who is active in the
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are instances of violence against Indigenous women in Canada and the United States, notably those in the First Nations in Canada and Native American communities, but also amongst other Indigenous peoples s ...
(MMWIG) movement. The film is dedicated to sound mixer Michael Wolf Snyder, who died by suicide at the age of 35.


Release

The film had its world premiere at the
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
on June 12, 2021 where it was awarded the Audience Award. By the end of its run, the film screened at festivals in
Deauville Deauville () is a communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados department, Normandy (administrative region), Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its port, harbour, Race track, race course, marinas, con ...
,
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
,
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
,
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
, and
Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...
. In August 2021,
IFC Films Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent fil ...
bought the film's distribution rights. The film was released in the United States on February 11, 2022. In April 2022, IFC Films signed an output deal with
AMC+ AMC+ is an American subscription video on demand streaming service owned by AMC Networks that was launched on June 11, 2020. The service is a premium bundle that includes the live feeds and program libraries of the company's television networks ...
. The film is set to be released on the streaming service on May 13, 2022.


Reception


Box office

In the United States and Canada, the film earned $7,992 from thirty theaters in its opening weekend. It made $8,625 from eight theaters in its second weekend, $6,397 from three theaters in its third, $295 from one theater in its fourth, $244 from two theaters in its fifth, and $210 from two theaters in its sixth. Overall, it made $35,210.


Critical response

''
Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...
''s Mae Abdulbaki said the film was "strongest in action mode". Nick Schager of ''
The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...
'' praised the film for its "portrait of white men exploiting Native American women for profit and sexual gratification", adding that " tisn't lost on the film..." David Ehrlich from '' IndieWire'' said " ere isn't much for ''Catch the Fair One'' to find at the end of the line, but it looks for its invisible women - indigenous and otherwise - with the urgency of someone who knows what seeing them would actually mean".


Accolades

''Catch the Fair One'' competed for Best Film at festivals in Deauville, and Warsaw, and won the award at the
Sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English, South African English), or footpath (Hiberno-English, Irish English, Indian English, Australian English, New Zealand English) is a path along the side of a road. Usually constr ...
and Tribeca Film Festivals. Reis won Best Actress at the
Newport Beach Film Festival The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) is an annual film festival in Newport Beach, California, typically held in late April. In 2022, it was announced that the festival had permanently changed its date to be held in October, as the festival bega ...
, and received a nomination in the same category at the
37th Independent Spirit Awards The 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films and television series of 2021, were presented by Film Independent on March 6, 2022. Traditionally held the Saturday before the Academy Awards, the 2022 date marks a shi ...
.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Catch the Fair One American thriller films Protozoa Pictures films 2021 thriller films 2021 films 2020s English-language films Films about human trafficking in the United States American films about revenge IFC Films films 2022 independent films 2022 films Films about Native Americans Films about child abduction in the United States 2020s American films English-language independent films English-language thriller films