Gracie tries to inspire us not to be limited by the past, through soccer. Gracie is a beautifully shot movie, packed with only slightly veiled metaphors and full of clichés that don’t resonate emotionally or develop into a film worth seeing.

After a death in the family, Grace Bowen takes it upon herself to find redemption for the soccer team her loved one played on. She asks her father to train her, he refuses because she’s a girl and isn’t “tough enough.” Her mother tells her that she should just “take a bite of a shit sandwich.” Her brothers mock and ridicule her. Detoured by her family’s emotional slap down, Grace turns to a life of mischief, falling grades and boys. After coming to the self realization that her life will go nowhere if she continues on this path, she returns to her goal as a varsity soccer player.

Gracie is beautifully shot. Chris Manly, the cinematographer, has an understanding of light and composition that is obvious during the entire film. The rain is beautifully drippy. The dark scenes don’t lose the characters because of lack of light; they are still crisp and clean. I kept returning to how beautiful the movie was when I was too bored to pay attention to the characters in the movie.

Gracie is not beautifully acted. Carly Schroeder, who plays Grace, is awkward and unnatural in her skin. She can emote effectively during simple scenes, but the movie is composed of mostly difficult scenes and Schroeder can’t seem to hit the proper emotional cord. Watching Schroeder attempt adolescent anger reminds me of listening to a third grade school band attempt to play The Nutcracker Suite. You can generally grasp which song they are trying to play, but the execution leaves you wanting industrial strength ear plugs.