DEBT TRAP

In the US, President Biden recently announced that up to $20,000 of student loans would be forgiven, which will make a life-changing impact on many people who have spent their entire adult lives paying huge sums intensified by high interest rates, barely able to keep afloat. But, that impact isn’t life-changing enough for the people whose debts are so large that even a $20,000 reduction will still leave them drowning.

This is the case for the antihero at the heart of , in which Aubrey Plaza goes into full thriller mode in the story of a woman pushed to the brink while saddled with $70,000 worth of debt. Writer/director John Patton Ford – here making his debut – drew from his own experience. “I got out of school with a tremendous amount of debt, over a hundred thousand dollars,” he tells . “Suddenly I had to pay $1,200 a month in loan payments, another $1,100 in rent,” he remembers shaking his head. “So you’re just working 60, 70 hours