Stephanie Daley

Kino

Love the Hard Way

Film.com's FREE movie of the week is "Love the Hard Way." Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and Charlotte Ayanna star in this drama about a thief who falls for a curious, beautiful young woman. As their intimacy grows, a slick cop (Pam Greer) is closing in.

CinemaSource

Rating: R

Running Time: 92 mins.

Country Of Origin: United States

starring: Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Timothy Hutton, Melissa Leo, Jim Gaffigan, Denis O'Hare, Deirdre O'Connell, Novella Nelson, Kaiulani Lee, Marceline A Hugot

director: Hilary Brougher

Stephanie Daley

When 16-year-old Stephanie Daley is accused of murdering her newborn, she claims she never knew she was pregnant and that the child was stillborn. A forensic psychologist, Lydie Crane, is hired to determine the truth behind Stephanie's continuing state of denial. Lydie is pregnant herself and grappling with her shaky marriage, as well as a growing intuition that something may go wrong with her own unborn child. Her encounters with Stephanie soon lead her to believe that unraveling the teenager's mystery is crucial to her own fate. The resulting parallel journeys lead each woman to a place of self-realization and acceptance.

Hilary Brougher wrote and directed Stephanie Daley as part of the Sundance Institute Screenwriters and Directors Lab, which stood her well when she took home the prestigious Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Her film was also nominated for that fest's Grand Jury Prize, but lost out to Quinceañera. But then she won best director at the Jackson Hole Film Festival that same year. All those accolades are well deserved, as Brougher has fashioned a tightly constructed…