When you first meet Lucy, played with bracing forthrightness by Mira Sorvino in Nancy Savoca’s “Union Square,” well, let’s just say she can only grow on you.

Because Lucy is – or seems to be – a serious pain. She’s whiny, she’s needy and she’s abrasive without even trying to be.

But stick with her. In Savoca’s brisk, surprising little film, she and Sorvino achieve a kind of raw emotion that you don’t find very often. Most movies would find cute or obvious ways to redeem Lucy. Savoca does ultimately reveal her more appealing side – or at least makes her seem less annoying – but Sorvino earns every iota of sympathy or empathy she elicits from the viewer in “Union Square,” opening in limited release Friday (7/13/12). (More…)