10 Most Divisive Movies Of 2016

One of the most divisive indies premiered at Sundance last year, Elizabeth Wood’s provocative directorial debut White Girl tells the tale of a party girl and university student (the white girl of the title) who falls into the grimier side of New York City trying to save her Puerto Rican boyfriend after a drug deal gone awry lands him in jail.

Fans of the film hailed it an explosive and honest portrait of the youth of today and compared it to Harmony Korine’s equally controversial 1995 movie Kids, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your opinion of that movie.

Then there were the critics not so taken with the movie, like Variety’s Peter Debruge who called it ‘a cesspool of reprehensible behaviour’. But for all its focus on reckless young ‘uns and its pretty much constant stream of sex and drug-snorting, it’s not just a film out to shock or shock’s sake and has some interesting points to make about the privileged white experience of its protagonist in contrast to the none-white characters around her.