The housing crisis in the United States has forced many economically vulnerable families to move into cheap, run-down motels. What begins as a temporary, low-cost shelter often becomes a long-term necessity. One such family is that of 12-year-old Mikal, who has spent the past few years living in a two-room motel with his alcoholic parents. The boy is erratic yet intelligent, and his greatest wish is for his parents to stop drinking. But he has been hoping for that his entire life.

One of the best documentaries this year, with its unforgivingly observant style never turns the camera away, but immerses the viewer with remarkable skill into Mikal’s harsh reality, exposing the dark underside of the American Dream.