One of the best things about being an independent film critic is that I occasionally get a chance to take a risk and recommend a film that audiences might not otherwise get a chance to discover.  Even better is when I get the opportunity to defend a work of art that I know some other critics will dismiss out of hand simply because they either don’t appreciate or understand the film’s subject matter.

Case in point: My Name Is ‘A’ By Anoynmous.

My Name Is ‘A’ is inspired by a disturbing true story.  In 2009, a nine year-old girl named Elizabeth Olten was brutally murdered in Missouri.  The police investigation eventually led to the arrest of Elizabeth’s 15 year-old neighbor, Alyssa Bustamante.  Alyssa confessed to the crime, explaining that she simply wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone.  After having killed Elizabeth, Alyssa wrote in her diary: “It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the ‘ohmygawd I can’t do this’ feeling, it’s pretty enjoyable. I’m kinda nervous and shaky though right now. Kay, I gotta go to church now…lol.”  Alyssa later pled guilty to 2nd degree murder and is currently serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

When we read about the crimes of Alyssa Bustamante, our natural instinct is to look for a reason why.  There’s been speculation that she was sexually abused.  Needless to say, some people have decided that she was a part of some sort of Satanic cult.  As a former cutter, I immediately focused on the red marks on her wrist that were visible in some of the pictures that she posted online before committing the murder.  As observers, we need a reason because, in theory, a definite reason would also mean that there is a definite solution as well.  What we do not want to hear is that Alyssa Bustamante killed Elizabeth just because she felt like it.

Told in a deliberately disjointed fashion, My Name Is A follows four teenage girls in the days leading up to the death of Elizabeth.

Alex Damiano plays a bulimic who rails angrily against both the father who abandoned her and a God that she doesn’t believe in.  Damiano gives perhaps the film’s bravest performance and both she and director Shane Ryan deserve a lot of credit for the realistic way that they present and deal with bulimia.

Teona Dolnikova dreams of being a star but, instead, has to deal with her own sexually abusive stepfather.  About halfway through the film, Dolnikova gets an opportunity to star in a surrealistic music video.  It’s an unexpected moment but one that works.

And finally, there’s Alyssa (Katie Marsh) and her mostly silent friend, played by Demi Baumann.  In many ways, Alyssa and her friend seem like normal teenagers.  They spend a lot of time playfully giving each other a hard time, making silly videos with their phone, and generally just trying to find something interesting to do.  Indeed, during the film’s first few scenes, it’s easy for the viewer to relate to Alyssa.  (Not surprisingly, that’s why some viewers are going to have issues with My Name Is A.)  It’s only as the film progresses that we start to catch glimpses of what lies behind Alyssa’s facade of normalcy.

Who the girls are in relation to each other and how their separate stories will eventually lead to a shocking murder is the question that lies at the heart of My Name Is A.  To his credit, Shane Ryan doesn’t provide any easy answers.  He provides plenty of clues but it’s up to the audience to find those clues and to put the pieces of the puzzle together and then to decide whether any of those pieces can properly explain the actions of an Alyssa Bustamante.  In this way, My Name Is A reminded me a lot of Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, another film about teenage murderers that provided clues but was smart enough to avoid giving the audience the comfort of an easy answer.

The film’s director has described My Name Is A as being a “love it or hate it” film.  I can understand why.  My Name Is A refuses to give audiences the easy answers that they’ve come to expect and, even more  dangerously, suggests that monsters can also be human.  My Name Is A is not always an easy movie to watch but it is a movie that dares us to think and consider questions that we might not otherwise consider.

What more can you ask from a movie?