Starving in Suburbia

Starving in Suburbia has built a devoted audience in the US on Hoopla among viewers who want their drama to earn its emotional beats. The runtime earns every minute, with nothing here that feels like padding. 69 viewers have already rated it on TMDB — the kind of consensus that does not happen by accident. Laura Slade Wiggins leads a cast that never overplays its hand. Available now on Hoopla — press play and find out why people keep recommending it.

Starving in Suburbia arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. Starving in Suburbia trusts its audience to sit with discomfort instead of resolving it too quickly. When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site founder, ButterflyAna. By the time Hannah's family realizes what is happening and get Hannah the help she needs, the disease has fully taken hold and Hannah is refusing to eat. Will this family be able to exorcise the demon of anorexia from their lives? Laura Slade Wiggins and Emma Dumont lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2014. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. There is real craft here, even in the moments that do not fully land.

Starving in Suburbia is what you recommend to people who say they do not really watch much. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Laura Slade Wiggins is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record. The patience it asks of you early on is paid back with interest.