Amy

An earnest attempt to fob off a sentimental and rather silly melodrama as a gritty piece of urban realism, partially redeemed by good performances and some amusing (if cliched) supporting characters. Tanya Rammus (the great Rachel Griffiths, without whose coiled-spring intensity the film would be all but intolerable) is a single mom whose eight-year-old, the titular Amy (Alana De Roma), is both deaf and mute. When we first encounter them they're hidden away on a farm in the Australian outback. Forced to flee unfeeling Child Welfare agents who want to take Amy from her mom, the pair make their way to a seedy working class Melbourne neighborhood populated in equal meas...