Growing up means getting even

Set against the backdrop of the residential schools tragedy when thousands of Aboriginal children were separated from their families, culture, and language his much-anticipated debut feature Rhymes for Young Ghouls resembles an S.E. Hinton novel re-imagined as a surreal, righteously furious thriller. At the tender age of 15, Aila (Kawennahere Devery Jacobs) has taken over the drug business of her father Joseph (Glen Gould) while he serves a stint in prison. Joseph's return signals an abrupt end to Aila's reign as the reservation's drug queen; it also piques the interest of Popper (Mark Antony Krupa), the reserve's corrupt and sadistic Indian agent. The bloody tragedy that unfolds becomes an angry and poetic howl for lost lives, lost opportunities and lost loved ones a fever dream whose terrifying fictions are grounded in even more terrible fact.