Lehigh Valley Movie Connection: Local actresses Addison Timlin and Sabrina Carpenter on the road to success in new releases

Remember the names Addison Timlin and Sabrina Carpenter. If their recent performances in the new-to-streaming flicks “All Roads to Pearla” and “The Short History of the Long Road” are any indication, both actresses will have long and healthy careers.

Timlin, who was born and raised in Quakertown, is already something of an indie darling thanks to her breakout performance in “Little Sister,” as a young woman who longs to become a nun. Timlin plays a much different character in “All Roads.”

In the film, which is also available on DVD from the Pottstown-based MVD Entertainment Group, Timlin stars as Pearla, a small town Texas prostitute trapped in the job thanks to her psychopathic pimp (Dash Mihok). Into this fraught situation comes Brandon (Alex MacNicoll), a high-schooler who agrees to become Pearla’s driver, at least for one night.

Of course, Pearla and Brandon fall in love, which creates a lot of complications for both of them. In some ways, this aspect of the plot is the most clichéd. And yet it works because Timlin endows her “hooker with a heart of gold” character with a surprising amount of depth.

Perhaps writer-director-editor-producer Van Ditthavong’s greatest achievement is the way he depicts a small Texas town as a place of violence and festering dread. The fictional, strip mall-riddled hamlet has clearly fallen on hard times, allowing Mihok and his gun-toting criminals to flourish.

Ditthavong oversteps a bit with a subplot involving Brandon’s brother, who was killed trying to outrun a child molester. The failed escape opens the movie, which gives viewers the impression that the crime is central to what will follow, and that is not really the case.

Despite a few wobbly patches, “All Roads” is an involving portrait of wasted lives and dashed dreams. And it features a heartbreaking turn by an actress who seems to understand Pearla’s desperation in her bones.

Lower Milford Township native Sabrina Carpenter, who’s best known for playing Maya Hart on Disney Channel’s “Girl Meets World,” changes direction for the riveting indie “The Short History of the Long Road.”

The action pivots on a teenager named Nola (Carpenter) who lives on the road and off the grid with her idiosyncratic father (Steven Ogg). After Dad passes away, Carpenter is on her own for an adventure that includes working for a kindly mechanic (Danny Trejo) and searching for the mother she never knew (Maggie Seff.)

“Short History” is not only a big-hearted movie that refuses to condemn any of its characters, no matter how flawed they are, but it provides a vehicle for Carpenter to prove she’s got acting chops to spare.

The actress also pops up in “Clouds,” which is now streaming on Disney+. The biopic chronicles the real life battle of the late Zach Sobiech, who wrote a hit song called “Clouds” after being diagnosed with end-stage osteosarcoma in 2012.

Movie writer Amy Longsdorf is a contributor to The Morning Call. Amy can be reached at movieamy@aol.com