Powder Blue

Set in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, Powder Blue follows four people whose separate struggles bring them into contact with one another over the course of a single night. Among them are Rose, a stripper working at Velvet Larry's club while her son lies in a coma; Jack, newly released after 25 years in prison and searching for the daughter he lost touch with; and Charlie, a former priest unable to move past his wife's death. Their stories concern guilt, chance and the search for connection in the city's less glamorous corners.

The 2009 drama was directed by Timothy Linh Bui, who also wrote the screenplay. Forest Whitaker appears as Charlie and is among the producers, alongside Tracee Stanley and Ross M. Dinerstein. Jessica Biel leads the cast as Rose, with Ray Liotta as Jack, Eddie Redmayne as Qwerty Doolittle, Patrick Swayze as Velvet Larry and Lisa Kudrow as Sally; 26 performers are credited in all. It was an independent production mounted by several companies across the United Kingdom and the United States, and it came after Bui's earlier features, 2001's Green Dragon and 2005's Beautiful Country. The film runs 106 minutes.

Audience response has been mixed. On IMDb it holds 6.2 out of 10 from around 16,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.1 from 261 votes. A much smaller group of critics gave it 3.6 out of 10 across eight reviews, well below the ratings viewers have given it.