Leah, a young university student, moves in with her best friend Katie into an apartment in Ridgewood, Queens. One night, after they run out of marijuana, she approaches a group of young Latino men on her corner asking them to sell her drugs. They refuse. Later she invites one of the men, Blue, into her apartment, who explains that while he is a cocaine dealer, he refuses to do hard drugs. Blue and Leah end up having sex on her rooftop. After seeing the drugs that Blue deals, Leah tells him he could easily be making $60 compared to the $20 he has been selling them for. She invites him to a party thrown by the magazine she is interning for and Blue is indeed able to mark up his prices to the mostly white crowd. Emboldened by his success, Blue visits his supplier Lloyd and asks him to give him a kilo of cocaine. Lloyd agrees and Blue and Leah go to a restaurant for breakfast. While there, he is approached by one of his regulars and goes outside to sell to him. He is immediately arrested by an undercover police officer as it turns out he has been set up. Leah picks up the kilo and quietly leaves with it. Leah goes to visit Blue in jail where he tells her that due to his priors he will be getting 20 years in jail. Leah decides to help him, telling him that she has the cocaine, so the police have no evidence. He tells her to return the kilo to Lloyd and explain the situation. Instead, she finds a good-natured lawyer named George, intending to deal the cocaine to pay his fee. He is optimistic that they have a very good case. Approaching her boss, Kelly, Leah manages to sell a third of the kilo. She also enlists Katie and Blue's friends to help move the rest of the coke, while at the same time telling Blue that George is representing him pro bono. As her debts to George pile up and Lloyd finds her and threatens her to make her come up with the rest of the money, she approaches Kelly for a $17,000 loan to cover all the costs. He instead helps her throw a rave with a cover charge in order to get it all. The party is a success, but Leah takes too many drugs and wakes up alone with all the money gone. Leah promises George that she will get him the rest of the money, but he tells her to forget about it. He takes her to dinner where he explains that the legal system is unequal and white men who commit violent crimes are more likely to get off for their crimes than non-violent offenders like Blue. The two end up going to Leah's place where Leah soon passes out, intoxicated. George's true character is revealed as he uses the opportunity to rape her. After the rape, Leah becomes silent and withdrawn, taking to her bed. She is surprised one day by Blue who arrives in her apartment and crawls into bed with her. He reveals that the lawyer managed to free him and credits Leah with saving his life. Getting on one knee he proposes to her, to which she does not give a clear answer. Walking down the street together, Leah and Blue are surprised when Lloyd attacks them both, wanting his money. Blue first hits him over the head with a broken bottle then beats him to death with a wrench. As Leah looks on, Blue silently realizes that she provoked the attack by not returning the cocaine. Blue is arrested, watching Leah coldly as he is driven away. Leah is last seen in a classroom, just before the credits.
Cast
Morgan Saylor as Leah
Brian Marc as Blue
Justin Bartha as Kelly
Chris Noth as George
India Menuez as Katie
Adrian Martinez as Lloyd
Anthony Ramos as Kilo
Ralph Rodriguez as Nene
Annabelle Dexter-Jones as Alexa
Jemel Howard as Darnell
Production
In February 2015, it was revealed that Elizabeth Wood had directed a film from a screenplay she wrote, with Morgan Saylor and India Menuez starring in the film. Gabriel Nussbaum produced the film, while Christine Vachon, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman produced the film under their Killer Films and Supermarche banners respectively. Wood began writing the feature before attending Columbia University's screenwriting MFA program. She loosely based the film on her own life.
Release
The film had its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2016. Shortly after, Netflix acquired worldwide video on demand distribution rights to the film. In April 2016, FilmRise acquired theatrical distribution rights to the film with a planned late summer-fall 2016 release. The film was released on September 2, 2016. It was released on Netflix on December 2, 2016.
Reception
White Girl received positive reviews from film critics. It holds a 72% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 65 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Peter Dubruge of Variety gave the film a negative review writing: "As much as White Girl has to offer in raw immediacy, it lacks the distance to offer much in the way of meaningful commentary." The Hollywood Reporter called it "squalid, shocking and sexy as hell," while Vice called the film "the most explosive portrait of NYC youth since Kids."
