Arresting Gena is a 1997 American crime drama film written and directed by Hannah Weyer and starring Aesha Waks, Summer Phoenix, J. Smith-Cameron, and Sam Rockwell.
During the summer before her senior year of high school, 16-year-old Gena's life is abruptly changed when her mother falls into a coma and is put in the hospital.
[5] In a Variety review, critic Emanuel Levy described Arresting Gena as a "frustrating, misconceived effort to illuminate the painful coming of age of its protagonist, a sensitive girl unwillingly pushed into a sleazy world of crime.
There are also some achingly touching moments in the interactions between Jane and Sonny, siblings realizing they can neither help nor rely on each other," but said, "lacking a third act, [the film] has an abrupt, unsatisfying denouement", and that "Gena's character remains an enigma.
"[6] Alspector concluded, "Weyer's portrait makes believable and comprehensible some apparently self-destructive things this teenager does in pursuit of thrills and emotional connections.