Root Letter | 2022 | NR | – 5.5.9

Why is “Root Letter” rated NR? The MPAA has not rated this film. The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of implied sex scenes, a few kissing scenes, a near rape, a struggle leaving one person dead, a couple of fights with bloody results, several arguments, threats with a gun, drug use and addiction, and nearly 50 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Based on a the eponymous video game: A teen boy (Danny Ramirez) is determined to find out what happened to a teen girl (Keana Marie), with whom he was corresponding through a pen pal assignment in their respective high schools. Also with Lydia Hearst, Mark St. Cyr, Sam A Coleman, Breon Pugh, Kate Edmonds, Terry J. Nelson, Dodie Brown and Jonetta Kaiser. Directed by Sonja O’Hara. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in Spanish and translated. [Running Time: 1:27]

Root Letter SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A young man and a young woman kiss, they leave and we see them in a car having sex as he thrusts from behind her (her bare shoulders are seen and we hear moaning and very briefly see rhythmic movement). A teen girl stumbles (she seems very drunk) up a flight of stairs and into a bathroom, and someone follows her into the bathroom and grabs her from behind, pressing her against a sink and seemingly trying to rape her; the teen pushes her way out of the room and runs outside (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A teen boy and a teen girl are seen kissing and sex is implied; we see her bare shoulders and his bare upper chest and shoulders (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A partially clothed woman (we see cleavage, bare abdomen, and legs to the upper thighs), injects herself in the arm and falls back on a bed (we see a shirtless man lying on the bed next to her with his bare chest and abdomen visible and sex is implied).
► A teen boy and a teen girl kiss in a car. Two fully clothed teen girls lie in a bed holding each other for comfort.
► A nude woman sits in a bathtub (nearly unconscious) and her hair covers her bare breasts (we see her partial bare shoulders and legs). Two teen girls wearing swimsuits lie in a kiddie pool (we see cleavage, bare abdomens and legs to the hips).

Root Letter VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – Teen boys break into a house to steal drugs, we hear a gunshot and one of the teens falls to the floor. Two teens struggle to reach a gun on a table and one is shot (blood splatters on the other’s face and shirt). A teen girl opens the door of a house and two teen boys and a teen girl enter and one boy steals drugs from a medicine cabinet; the owner of the house confronts the teens, and one teen boy struggles with the man briefly before the man falls down the stairs and lies motionless (presumably dead).
► A man punches a teen boy and kicks him while he is on the ground (we see blood on his head and face). A man punches a teen boy in the face and the teen falls to the ground. A young man and a young woman are seen kissing as we hear a man’s voice saying, “Get off my daughter”; we then hear the young man and the young woman pleading, we hear a slap as the scene ends, and we see the young man in a hospital with a bloody bandage around his head and eye and a bruise on his cheek. A teen girl stumbles (she seems very drunk) up a flight of stairs and into a bathroom, and someone follows her into the bathroom and grabs her from behind, pressing her against a sink and seemingly trying to rape her; the teen pushes her way out of the room and runs outside (it is implied that she passes out) and wakes up in a bed that she does not recognize, surrounded by stuffed animals. A teen boy is struck in the head with a gun and is knocked out. A woman yells at her teen daughter and slaps her in the face.
► A teen boy grabs a teen girl by the arm and threatens her. A man grabs a teen boy by the throat and threatens him. A young man searches an abandoned house and someone comes in, but then runs away. A teen boy yells and tips over a bed and throws things in a room. A man with a gun threatens a teen boy.
► A teen girl steals prescription drugs from a woman’s medicine cabinet. A teen boy finds a handgun in a closet and steals it. A man cleans a handgun and we later see several guns laid out on a bed. A woman is shown having physical therapy for a back issue. A teen boy takes a vial of pills from a hiding place in a house and when a man discovers that they are gone, he becomes enraged. Several scenes show people after a period of time and their circumstances have worsened; they seem unkempt and possibly strung out on drugs.
► A man describes a young man being shot through the chest. Two teen boys argue about selling prescription drugs that they stole from someone. A teen girl writes, “I killed him,” in a letter. A man yells at a teen boy and says, “Your momma abandoned you.” A man talks about his daughter leaving the house one day and disappearing. We hear new reports of two people being found dead. A woman talks about being on probation. A woman talks about having pain after an accident.
► A piece of raw chicken is shown on a counter. A clump of a woman’s hair is shown wrapped around a bar of soap in a bathtub.

Root Letter LANGUAGE 9

 – About 49 F-words, 8 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 3 mild obscenities, name-calling (metal head, noise, freak, vampiric, weird, dude, dumb broads), 2 religious profanities (GD), 2 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus Christ, Christ). | profanity glossary |

Root Letter SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman is shown taking prescription pain medication in several scenes, a woman is shown injecting herself with something in several scenes and we see dark bruises on her arms and her teeth become stained, a woman receives a prescription of oxycodone for back pain, teens at a party take unidentified pills, and white powder is seen sprinkled on a counter. Teen boys and girls drink at a party causing some obvious drunkenness. Cigarette butts are shown in an ashtray, a woman smokes cigarettes in several scenes, a woman falls asleep with a lit cigarette touching a sofa cushion (nothing happens), and a man smokes cigarettes in a few scenes.

Root Letter DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Control, addiction, feeling trapped, disappearance of a child, murder, squatting, manipulation, drug dealing, feeling as if you don’t belong, infidelity, friendship, betrayal.

Root Letter MESSAGE

 – It’s sometimes hard to know what is the right thing when faced with desperate circumstances.