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Sometimes children will learn unhealthy coping mechanisms from their parents, especially when the parents are struggling with mental health issues, substance abuse, or abusive relationships themselves, leading to a vicious cycle with lasting impact on emotional well-being. Lead Belly presents a moving narrative around childhood trauma, which successfully uses supernatural themes to convey its message, but the nonlinear storytelling doesn’t always work in the film’s favor.

Written, directed, edited, and scored by Stephen King Simmons (The Parker Sessions), Lead Belly is a coming-of-age story set in 1997 about two brothers attempting to cope with childhood trauma and their parents’ divorce. Kyle (Bastian Carrasco Betemps) and his older brother Marcus (Liam Foehl) have become estranged from their father Michael (Danny James) due in large part to his alcoholism and how it has affected their family, especially their mother Sara (Emily Ashby). Michael drinks and passes out, which leads to a near tragedy,...