SCRAP is the new dramatic feature film directed, written by, and starring Vivian Kerr. It boasts an incredible cast including Anthony Rapp, Lana Parrilla, and Khleo Thomas.

A single mom living in her car on the streets of LA is not an uncommon thing to hear about these days, and Vivian Kerr’s character Beth shows the struggles inherent in trying to find work when you don’t even have a bathroom to get ready in. Beth hides her homelessness from her estranged brother Ben, who is also looking after her daughter while she tries to find work. Ben is going through his own issues trying to conceive via IVF with his wife, who is not entirely cooperating with the process.

The movie examines some pretty heavy themes that are prevalent in our society today. Homelessness, child insecurity, the labor market and how hopeless it feels not have any sort of leverage in the process. It also touches upon how debt and collection agencies hound people, not understanding the trouble they might be going through, and the lengths which folks will go to avoid even speaking to them.

SCRAP does a fantastic job of showing Los Angeles, and not just in the glossy Hollywood-style of many movies using it as a backdrop. For an indie movie, utilizing what is already in your back yard provides a tremendous amount of production value and drives the look and openness of the movie through the roof. The movie actually feels somewhat like a spiritual successor to SWINGERS, after the characters have “grown up” and life has taken more of a toll on them. 

The concept of pride plays heavily in the movie, and it seems like if Beth would just have been honest with her brother from the start, she might not be in the situation we find her in at the beginning of the film.

SCRAP is shot as well as any studio production and the cast is fantastic. Rapp as Ben is a delight to watch and the humanity of what he’s dealing with throughout the film shines through. Vivian Kerr, doing triple duty on this movie plays the role of a young, troubled mother figuring out the complexities of how the world works without a safety net with empathy and a natural realness.