The line between a successful career and homelessness grows thinner every year. This, along with themes of familial strife, motherhood, and finding your sense of self, is present in Vivian Kerr’s directorial debut, Scrap.
When Beth (Vivian Kerr) loses her job, she finds herself and her daughter Birdie (Julianna Layne) living out of her car. Beth relies on her brother Ben (Anthony Rapp) and his wife Esther (Beth Dover) for help. However, Ben and Esther are dealing with their own struggles. Ben desperately wants to write a biography about Billie Holiday, and he and Esther are trying to get pregnant through IVF. All of these stressors compound as these three interact.
The film, which was also written by Kerr, manages to look at all of these issues in an authentic way, exploring much of the mess that exists in these situations. Beth is ashamed of her situation, so for much of the film, she behaves around her brother as though she still has her job despite living out of her car and asking him to keep Birdie. She pretends that she is on a business trip, that their house is being remodeled, that she’s looking for another space – anything to put him off of the real story, which is that she doesn’t have a job.
One of the things that Scrap does well is to illustrate just how close to becoming unhoused most people are. There can be a sense that homelessness is simply a result of bad financial decisions or addiction issues, but the unexpected loss of a job, a medical emergency, or a mental health crisis can leave anyone in the position of finding themself on the street. Beth doesn’t “look” unhoused, but that doesn’t change her circumstances, and this film shows the importance of not making assumptions.
Another theme that this film addresses effectively is that of parenthood broadly and motherhood specifically. Beth is struggling to care for her daughter while she is in the situation that she is in, and as such, she relies heavily on her brother and sister-in-law. However, that reliance, without the context of her entire situation, looks like negligence, and Ben and Esther treat it as such, judging Beth more harshly than she deserves.
But their context also matters, and this is a couple who has been unable to conceive a child easily and has experienced multiple pregnancy losses, so seeing a mom abandon her child could amplify the negative feelings they are already experiencing. While sometimes these multiple issues can muddy the story a bit, they also offer a greater background for everyone involved, strengthening the characters.
The performances were solid all around. Kerr does an impressive job of balancing the role of a woman who is floundering with her circumstances while also appearing somewhat disconnected from them. When she hides from her loss and just orders items from Amazon anyway, that feels relatable. Rapp also does a great job portraying someone who has had success, but who still feels a draw toward something else. He plays a character who likes order and predictability but who is also surrounded by chaos and uncertainty and he goes with that remarkably well.
Two other performances of note include Dover as Esther. She plays a woman who never quite connected with Beth but who would tolerate her because she loved Ben. However, as the woman who is struggling to conceive, her anger is poured out at Beth, and it comes across as genuine. Though he has a relatively small role, Khleo Thomas, as Marcus, is a fun and likable character who is a romantic interest for Beth, and he is a delight to watch when he is on screen.
The aspect of Scrap that felt like it was lacking the most was the backstory between Ben and Beth. We do get some of their past in some brief flashbacks, but by expanding what we know about them it could have made the film feel more rich and fleshed out. We get a sense of why Ben wants to write about Billie Holiday, and we get an idea of why their relationship feels more parental than sibling, but delving into their past could have brought this a bit more to life.
Despite some small deficiencies in the story, the overall effect of this movie is quite strong. Not many of us want to believe that we could be one or two bad months away from our lives turning upside down, but ultimately, that is true for most people in America. Homelessness has increased significantly since the pandemic, with rates going up almost 23% over a four-year span. And while Scrap isn’t a movie specifically about the unhoused crisis, the film approaches that reality with compassion and honesty.
Scrap is now available on digital download.
Learn more about the film, including how to buy it, at the official website.
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