Mickey and the Bear

This is a special portrait of life in the hinterlands of America, where young people face a daunting future due to their lack of opportunity and sense of obligation to family. Mickey turns 18 in the course of the story, and already has the responsibilities of an adult since she cares for her traumatized addict father, while she tries to enjoy the sparse excitement of her small Montana town. She clearly has a decision to make: stay in this place where she will watch her father die from his damage or flee to a desperate but liberating unknown elsewhere.

This actually reminded me somewhat of 'Leave No Trace', which came out the year before with its story of a nomadic father-daughter trying to survive under the weight of his trauma. That family was constantly seeking somewhere safe to go, but for Mickey and her dad, there is utterly nowhere to go, and that sense of futility becomes palpable when she faces a choice between her ignorant boyfriend and a sensitive foreigner. And as it turns out, choices are often illusory.

Young people benefit from movies like this, since girls can see how their empowerment can be corrupted by men's expectations and boys can see the reasons they need to abandon their arrogant egos.