Movie Review: What We Hide

What We Hide, a locally-produced independent feature film about two sisters struggling to deal with their mother’s fatal overdose, recently opened during a two-theater run. The poignant drama explores the many victims of addiction beyond those suffering from it directly.

The film opens with 15-year-old Spider (McKenna Grace) and her little sister Jessie (Jojo Regina) hiding their mother’s body in a shed in an attempt to avoid being split up by an overtaxed foster care system. Written and directed by Dan Kay and produced by Tampa-based Hungry Bull Productions, the film’s release at Tampa Theater and Green Light Cinema coincided with National Overdose Awareness Day.

Grace, who was nominated for an Emmy for her gripping performance as a child bride in The Handmaid’s Tale and is currently filming the next installment of the Hunger Games franchise, brings the same searing intensity to the role of Spider, a stoically angry teen brimming with resentment after having been denied anything even resembling a typical childhood.

Regina, who gained recognition for her own eye-catching debut as the young version of Kya in Where the Crawdads Sing, delivers an endearing performance as Jessie, whose character serves as the heart of the film. The movie provides us with almost nothing in terms of the mother’s woes outside of some peripheral exposition, preferring to explore the residual impact on her daughters.

Spider is angry with, even contemptuous of, their late mother, while Jessie excuses her for being "sick," while insisting that she loved them and "had good in her heart." Spider’s fierce protectiveness of her sister and wildly unrealistic effort to prevent the inevitable demontrates the many ways in which addiction forces an elder child to harden against the world for the sake of protecting younger, more vulnerable siblings.

The surprisingly accomplished cast includes a spirited performance from Dacre Montgomery (Billy in Stranger Things) as Reese, their mother’s drug-dealing love interest, who is even more intent than the family’s CPS caseworker to get in touch with their elusive mother. Forrest Goodluck (The Revenant) plays Cody, a gentle-hearted convenience store clerk who manages to chip away at Spider’s guardedness.

Jesse Williams (Dr. Jackson Avery in Grey’s Anatomy) plays the well-intentioned sheriff and father of Spider's best friend, and local theater fans will recognize Urbanite co-founder Summer Dawn Wallace as a hospital administrator (Wallace also served as a dialect coach). Filmed mainly in Plant City and Pinellas County (including scenes at Seminole High School and Bauder Elementary), production had to be temporarily delayed during Hurricane Ian.

The film, which unfolds over a tightly paced one hour and forty-two minutes, will undoubtedly draw favorable comparisons to smash indie hit, The Florida Project, a similarly bleak, character-driven snapshot of our state's less glamorous, drug-littered environs. What We Hide is an intensely honest examination of how the many horrors of addiction reverberate through families and communities, while also serving as a testament to human resilience and the ties that bind.

What We Hide is currently available to rent on Amazon, Apple TV+, Google, and other streaming services.