When young mum Molly (Sterling) is released from prison after serving four months, she assumes it will be a matter of hours before she can pick up her children from foster care. Instead, Molly finds herself in the mother of all catch-22s: she can’t get housing because she doesn’t have her kids living with her; but she can’t get them back without a roof over her head. When Molly reconnects with her childhood friend, and fellow single mother, Amina (Ahmed), the two women join forces and take destiny into their own hands.
The Garden Cinema View:
Daisy May-Hudson follows in the footsteps of Ken Loach and the Dardennes brothers for a furious and excoriating critique of Britain's care system. Posy Sterling gives an intense and very believable lead performance as a woman in the most desperate of circumstances. There are some didactic moments, but (as in Loach) sometimes the broader political point is more crucial than dramatic immersion. May-Hudson is careful to keep her sights fixed on the Kafkaesque care system itself, rather than the people working in it. In fact, despite the hard edges, Lollipop is generous and soft-centred. May-Hudson shows how solutions, warmth, and hope can be found in community and social relations, even when all seems hopeless.
