‘Good One’: Cannes Review

Dir/scr: India Donaldson. US. 2024. 89 minutes

The generational divide is a continuing travelling companion throughout a father-daughter climbing journey in Good One. India Donaldson’s minimalist, slow-burn function debut reveals a sensibility that inevitably invitations comparisons with the work of Kelly Reichardt, particularly Previous Pleasure.  That includes a compelling central efficiency from Lily Collias, Donaldson’s refined exploration of household dynamics has been effectively acquired at a string of US festivals following its Sundance premiere, whereas Metrograph Footage has set a home theatrical launch for August.

 A floor veneer of calm continuously conceals turbulent feelings

Donaldson has beforehand directed a trio of shorts: If Discovered (2021), Hannahs (2019) and Medusa (2018). Her first function begins as 17 year-old Sam (Lily Collias) is making ready for an annual tenting journey together with her divorced dad Chris (James Le Gros) and his oldest pal Matt (Danny McCarthy). This 12 months, Matt’s son Dylan (Julian Grady) has refused to accompany them, leaving Sam the only teenager on a visit with two late-middle-aged males.

The previous mates show to be completely self-absorbed. The seemingly genial, honest Chris proves to be an uptight know-it-all who likes to micro-manage each facet of their journey to the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Danny is a as soon as profitable actor whose profession has pale. Apparently a extra relaxed, laidback determine, he reveals a vulnerability and loneliness because the journey progresses. The needling banter and bickering between the boys leaves Sam to bear witness to their strife and play peacekeeper on the journey. Her good grace and tolerance are utterly taken as a right.

Collias (beforehand seen in 2022’s Palm Bushes And Energy Traces) is extremely efficient at conveying her character’s emotions with out the necessity for any dialogue. A dry chuckle reveals her indulgence of the duo’s acquainted bantering, a sly look shared with a cashier acknowledges her exasperation. She is endlessly tolerant of a state of affairs that different youngsters would overtly resent. She is compliant fairly than rebellious. 

Good One is a movie wherein a floor veneer of calm continuously conceals turbulent feelings. Donaldson and cinematographer/co-producer Wilson Cameron distinction the human tensions with a tranquil imaginative and prescient of the pure world they’re traversing. It is a movie suffused with lingering photographs of timeless waterfalls, rocky trails, flora, fauna, fluttering butterflies and crawling bugs which might be all oblivious to those momentary human intruders. 

A low-level of simmering tensions hums all through all the story. An opportunity encounter with a trio of younger hikers brings out the petty, aggressive facet of Chris. Neither Chris nor Matt appear to understand that Sam is a person, and possibly extra grown-up than both of them. On the eve of their three-day stroll within the woods, the trio shares a room with the 2 males claiming the comfortable beds and an uncomplaining Sam anticipated to sleep on the ground. A lot additional on, Chris casually asks: “Are you wanting ahead to varsity?” Sam reacts with astonishment as that is the primary query her father has requested throughout the journey.

Change comes after an occasion that crosses a line. It isn’t the character of the occasion itself however the responses to it that push Sam in the direction of a clearer understanding of the value she has paid for her passivity. Donaldson stays true to her instincts by eschewing dramatic fireworks as she attracts Good One to its unresolved conclusion. The ending is as low-key as the remainder of the movie, however the refined shifts in energy and understanding really feel like a major coming of age.