First-time feature director Annabelle Attanasio gets excellent performances from her cast, led by the talented Camila Morrone and James Badge Dale, but her original screenplay fails to make the grade.
This is a real downer, a depressing slice of life film that injects numerous topical themes, ranging from the fate of damaged war vets, the nation's addiction crisis to problems of caregivers, while failing to develop them fully. Instead we have Morrone as an 18-year-old heroine faced with the difficult choice of staying to care for her hopelessly destructive father or escape to a new life away from him, but by the end of the movie the choice is virtually made for her by taking away all her other options.
Many red herrings are employed by Attanasio in this grim saga, which produces quite a bit of tension, never released for the viewer. There is an element of escapism in that the audience can feel relieved they are not suffering such awful circumstances as the characters endure, but that hardly makes for a recommendation.
As with so many other "film festival fodder" movies, it's designed for consumption by an elite audience of cinephiles. As a card carrying member of that unfortunate group, I wasn't pleased with the blatant visual reference to Truffaut's "400 Blows", not advisable if one wants his or her work to be taken seriously.
