CANNES -- The meanest streets of Los Angeles are rendered at their grimiest in this ironically titled market movie. Set smack dab in the dark shadows of Wilshire's skyscrapers, this smartly-scoped film focuses on the underbelly of the city. Stylistically, it's a mixed bag: It's both a stark look at survival in the inner city, and a titillation ditty backdropped by the steamy gyrations of a strip club. As such, this New Films International production will be a tough sell, likely relegated to DVD and the outer edges of the indie-fest world.

Centered on a Valley runaway, who has escaped the grasp of an abusive father, the narrative follows the teenage girl's struggle for survival. She's stepped off the bus into a world of pimps, thugs, illegals, winos and predators. Fortunately, through the good graces of a stripper with a heart-of-gold, she finds shelter with the strip club's illegal kitchen worker.

Although director Alejandro Chomski has crafted a hard-edged social statement, that vision is muddled by the story's generic histrionics and pat predictability.