In this love letter to the early 2000s, a working-class Tennessee family tries for their spot in the limelight by auditioning for a reality TV show that’ll revamp the family Cadillac, but their own internal drama with romantic affairs and financial trouble may hold them back.

SYNOPSIS:

Copyright 2022

Twelve-year-old Neveah (V) is artistically and academically gifted, making her stand out in her working-class, rural Tennessee hometown. She lives an unstable but mostly-happy life with her single mother May, grandmother Nana, and ex-convict uncle Tim. Their already tenuous situation is worsened by Tim’s affair with their landlord’s wife, Miss Zoey, which he frequently enlists V’s help in keeping as secret as it needs to be. The rest of the family is not happy with this, leaving V as Tim’s only somewhat-supporter as he tries to find and keep love. Their day-to-day life is changed for the worse when V and Tim come across a radio advertisement for reality TV show auditions happening near their town. The reality show is Tuned Up (think Pimp My Ride), and the competition is to see what poor schmuck can tolerate the exploitation and trashiness of their audition process to make it onto the show to get a re-vamped car. With the help of Tim and May’s borderline-alcoholic high school friend Aditya (Adi), who V happens to have a childish crush on, Tim thinks they just might make it. If he wins this, it’ll be the first time he’s ever come out on top. He’s going to try his hardest to do it.