If you never see another indie film…

If you’re sorry Newsroom ended and love John Gallagher Jr…

If you adore Brie Larson…

If you work in any way with humans who need you to be there for them even when that work fills you with pain…

Short Term 12 somehow manages to plumb the depths of human interaction without wounding you permanently in the process. Don’t get me wrong. It destroys you, but it also offers unconventional, inescapable hope. Set in a temporary foster home in California, a small team of young workers deal with the daily lives of kids living in-between homes in the system while processing their own similar demons.

The language is unfiltered, but so is the truth. Kids from all sorts of backgrounds find shelter in foster care, for better or worse. Sadly, too many stories of abuse, crime, and mental illness pervade these adolescents’ lives. Now and then, however, one success story feels worth the retelling. It gives us hope knowing that our work is not in vain. It sees us though the next difficult day knowing that there just might be a silver lining. This film offers that story.