“It’s only temporary, right?,” Emily asks at one point in Emily the Criminal, and it’s a question that the character has clearly been asking for too long. The DUI on her record was only supposed to be a temporary problem. The thousands of dollars she accrued in debts seemed like it would be a temporary issue. The food delivery job that is wearing her down was a temporary way to make much-needed money.
COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY Written and directed by first-time filmmaker John Patton Ford, Emily the Criminal is a tightly crafted indie thriller, as Ford puts Emily in increasingly dangerous situations with escalating stakes. As Emily sees the opportunities in her ways, she learns from her mistakes, grows from her failures, and doesn’t let anything get in her way. The world has beaten her down so much, it’s time for Emily to do some of the beating for once.
But Ford makes Emily the Criminal more than just a smart, small-scale thriller, as he shows just how hard it is to survive in the so-called “land of opportunity.” Emily is defined by the mistakes in her past, much to her chagrin, and any time she thinks she might have a way forward, the world beats her down. She loses hours at her one source of steady income, or a potentially great job opportunity falls through.