Sherrybaby

In this arresting character study, Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a staggering performance as an ex-junkie who gets out of jail and decides to turn her life around. That includes getting a job and, more importantly, regaining custody of her young daughter (Ryan Simpkins), which proves to be far more challenging than she expected. Written and directed by Laurie Collyer. Brad William Henke, Sam Bottoms, Kate Burton, Giancarlo Esposito, Danny Trejo, Rio Hackford, Bridget Barkan., Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Sherry Swanson, who has just finished three years inside on drugs charges. Determined to go straight and stay clean for the sake of her eight-year-old daughter Alexis, she has to cope with a halfway house that isn’t much better than prison and an uncaring parole officer. But what makes it hardest is the close relationship Alexis has built up with her brother Bobby and his wife Lynette, who have been looking after Alexis while Sherry has been inside. Laurie Collyer’s engaging drama follows Swanson as she struggles to find a job, keep clean and try to regain her daughter’s love and trust without alienating her relatives., Sherry Swanson is released from prison after serving a three-year sentence and hopes to get a job and settle down with her young daughter Alexis. As she attempts to form a relationship the little girl however, Sherry is constricted not only by the fact that she is a recovering drug addict, she also has to fight an emotional trauma from her childhood, threatening to swallow her whole., An ex-con and ex-junkie tries to regain custody of her young daughter in this drama., An emotionally stunted ex-convict whose recent release from prison finds her attempting to form a relationship with her young daughter finds that redemption doesn’t come easy in this emotional family drama, the feature debut of award-winning documentary filmmaker Laurie Collyer. When Sherry Swanson (Maggie Gyllenhaal) was sentenced to three years in prison on a drug-related robbery conviction at the age of 22, she had just given birth to a daughter named Alexis (Ryan Simpkins). Placed in the care of Sherry’s brother, Bobby (Brad William Henke), and sister-in-law, Lynette (Bridget Barkan), while her mother was behind bars, young Alexis has grown into an affectionate young girl eager to reconnect with the mother she has never met. Though Sherry at first seems determined to stay on the straight and narrow, increasingly infrequent visits to Alexis and a troubling revelation about her family past soon begin to lead the protective Lynette to take a stand in protecting the vulnerable youngster. Later, when compassionate 12-step veteran Dean (Danny Trejo) makes an effort to help Sherry become the mother she longs to be, the troubled ex-con is faced with the choice of truly living up to her word or potentially losing her daughter forever., An ex-convict and ex-junkie tries to regain custody of her young daughter., Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Sherry Swanson, who has just finished three years inside on drugs charges. Determined to go straight and stay clean for the sake of her eight-year-old daughter Alexis, she has to cope with a halfway house that’s not much better than prison, as well as an uncaring parole officer. But what makes it hardest is the close relationship Alexis has built up with her brother Bobby and his wife Lynette, who have been looking after Alexis while Sherry has been inside. Laurie Collyer’s engaging drama follows Sherry as she struggles to find a job, keep clean and try to regain her daughter’s love and trust without alienating her relatives.