PJ Reed Anna story review by Nick Armbrister
Join Anna, a single parent struggling to bring up her kids
while holding down a minimum wage night shift job in a store. We find Anna working
her shift and looking forward to going home. She day dreams of dating a nice
man in a suit, like the well dressed customer who calls in. He's actually an
agent checking upon her well being. Is there more to Anna than we can actually
see? She wants such a man. Not a dealer
or pimp but a caring man. Her anxiety at work and on leaving is real. Her
neighbourhood is trashy, with derelict buildings, young teen thugs in masks,
deprivation and not much else but hope.
We feel like we're walking home with Anna. We experience one
teen thug rob her at knife point, causing her more anxiety when he steals her
kids' chocolate bars; we experience her anxiety like it was our own; we feel
out of place normality when the drug dealer/growers house and family is
described, at how their daughter plays normally in the street; we see body
parts on a fence; and two people, the masked teen and an old woman, sat still
on a couch, dead? Anna is linked to this. But why? What did she do? Who is she?
It's Halloween and it plays with Anna's head. For good
reason. The drug growing family end up in body bags. And the cops take Anna and
her kids away. Why? Safety or arrest? Her anxiety and past reliance on meds are
a big issue. If she loses it tonight, she can lose her kids. Answers are
needed. Will we get them? This is a scene set in a town near you. Reminds me of
Oldham.
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