A Bit of Light

Gentle waves on the ocean, almost heavenly melodies and children playing in a park are the first things we glimpse in the new film by Stephen Moyer. This beginning is basically the calm before the hurricane. In his second feature film, the director follows Ella, an alcoholic woman who is forced to live in her father's house. Els—as her acquaintances call her— knows what she must do: she needs to stay sober to share time with her daughters, who are in the custody of her ex-husband after a series of unfortunate events, caused by her addiction. During this process, she meets a mysterious teenager with whom she strikes up a unique friendship. Thanks to a script written for Anna Paquin that allows her to display all her talent, A Bit of Light manages to convey the contained anguish that pervades each of the characters, but especially the fragile Ella.