''Holly'' is a 2006 drama film directed by Guy Moshe. The film is about an American stolen artifacts dealer in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

who tries to save a young girl from child traffickers. It stars

Ron Livingston Ronald Joseph Livingston (born June 5, 1967) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Peter Gibbons in ''Office Space'' (1999) and Captain Lewis Nixon III in the miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers'' (2001). Liv ...

Chris Penn Christopher Shannon Penn (October 10, 1965 – January 24, 2006), credited as Chris Penn after 1991, was an American actor. He was the brother of actor Sean Penn and musician Michael Penn. Noted as a skilled character actor, he was typically cas ...

, and Thuy Nguyen. Shot on location in Cambodia, it includes many scenes in actual brothels in the notorious

red light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...

Plot

Patrick Thom, an American card shark and dealer of stolen artifacts, has been "comfortably numb" in Cambodia for years, when he encounters Holly, a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl, in the K11 red light village. The girl has been sold by her impoverished family and smuggled across the border to work as a prostitute. Patrick wants to save Holly, but Marie, a social worker tells him that paying for her freedom will supply the demand of the traffickers, which will cause more children to be trafficked. The social worker also tells him that the U.S. will not let him adopt Holly. Marie also informs him of the issues of reintegrating her into society.

Cast

: Patrick Thom *

: Freddie Vibal *

Udo Kier Udo Kierspe (born 14 October 1944), known professionally as Udo Kier, is a German actor. Known primarily as a character actor, he has appeared in more than 220 films in both leading and supporting roles throughout Europe and the Americas. He has ...

: Klaus *

Virginie Ledoyen Virginie Fernández (born 15 November 1976), known by her stage name Virginie Ledoyen (), is a French actress. She has appeared in French, English and American films. Life and career Ledoyen was born in Paris and raised in Aubervilliers, the da ...

: Marie * Jacquie Nguyen: Holly * Sahajak Boonthanakit: Tommy *

Adi Ezroni Adi Ezroni (; born November 16, 1978) is an Israeli actress, model, producer, TV host, and film studio executive. Media career She was born in Israel to a Jewish family. She served as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces. Subsequently, Ezroni ...

: Emma * Chaya Supannarat: Lan

Production

Writing

In an interview in 2007, Moshe was inspired by a script by Guy Jacobson which Moshe felt had "tremendous potential". He took the script to his producing partner Nava Levin, who also worked on the film with him.

Filming

The film was shot at a 200 ASA filming speed to make a unique grain structure and contrasted color. Moshe said that the film was very hard to produce, due to the fact that there were multiple languages being spoken, shooting six-day weeks, 17-hour days, in 100 degree Fahrenheit, and some of the cast members had received

food poisoning Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease), and toxins such ...

Reception

Jeannette Catsoulis of

the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

called the film a "riveting story". She commented: ''"What could have been a gripping study of emotional resurrection devolves into a blurred odyssey of white guilt."''. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a 65% approval rating, based on 23 reviews. Luke Y. Thompson of the San Luis Obispo New Times enjoyed the editing and cinematography of the film, specifically the slow-motion and the violins.

References

External links

* * 2006 films 2006 drama films American independent films Films about prostitution in Cambodia Films about human trafficking Works about sex trafficking Human trafficking in Cambodia American drama films 2006 independent films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language independent films {{2000s-US-film-stub