'Pain Hustlers' (2023): An Opioid Crisis
What starts off as a success story for a single mother living below the poverty line, slowly begins to weave itself into a tangled web of greed, guilt, and destruction.

Vince Taylor performs in a Scopitone music video.
What starts off as a success story for a single mother living below the poverty line, slowly begins to weave itself into a tangled web of greed, guilt, and destruction.
On March 31st, International Trans Day of Visibility, following some COVID related delays, the trailer was finally dropped, and although Taylour Paige and Riley Keough look to impress as lead characters Zola and Stefani, a brief cameo from a queer icon was what convinced me I have to see this movie.
Praising Black representation and condemning the power structures that suppress it, a mother delivers an impassioned speech to her distant son.
To say Hollywood has had a troubled past is the understatement of the century. In Ryan Murphy’s (American Horror Story) new Netflix series, Hollywood, that past is confronted and even rewritten.
The gentle, emotional nuances of Evan’s coming-of-age story would have been so beneficial to have incorporated into the life of a POC character. Showing a Black, Asian or Latino young man that is afforded the space to be vulnerable, flawed and sensitive while driving a compelling and widely-loved narrative would have been a game changer.