Good One

Sam is seventeen. She goes on a three day hike with her father and his old friend; they will camp in the mountains. The friend's son does not come at the last minute, so Sam is alone with two middle aged men. They walk, pitch tents, cook. The men talk: divorces, careers, old matters and the small jabs they throw at each other. Sam mostly listens and keeps the peace between them. Then one night something is said and everything changes. India Donaldson writes and directs. Lily Collias plays Sam. It is the director's first film and screened at the Sundance festival. The subject is not exactly what happened but what is done afterwards. The event is small; a sentence. But how the men behave after it changes Sam's position entirely. The method is unshowy: natural light, long scenes, walking passages without music and ordinary conversation. Lily Collias's performance is mostly silent; what the character thinks is not said and the film leaves it to the viewer. The forest and the walking are given in detail; the work of making camp, the map, the water and the tiredness are part of the narrative. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet American independent film and observational narrative. Who it is not for: almost nothing happens, the pace is very slow, and the ending resolves nothing.