Walk Backwards (1999)

Overview

Laurie Maria Baranyay makes her feature debut with this raw, gritty character study of a young woman struggling to come to terms with herself. The film centers on Mikey, a lass sporting vintage threads, platinum blonde hair, and a series of ugly bruises on her face. At the movie's outset, Mikey has a woodland rendezvous with her thuggish boyfriend Adam. After a round of unsatisfactory sex, Adam starts to heap drunken abuse upon her after Mikey reveals that she has to be at her sister's birthday party where Adam is expressly not invited. Mikey eventually stumbles in to the party late, which infuriates her family who cannot understand why she continues to date such a loser as Adam. But Mikey continues to stand by her man, and the physical abuse he inflicts on her. Later, she has more run-ins with her sisters, and a sleazy ex-beau who rapes her on a bathroom floor. When morning dawns, Mikey and her mother have a heart-wrenching talk.