The most profound events happen in the spaces between words. The tumult of the inner world usually surpasses the level of the dialogue. This is something we, as a community, understand all too well, though for motion picture, it is quite difficult to execute, especially when the subterranean moments are those tiny changes of awareness when the character, and the viewer, know that everything is going to be like this from now on. Thought is what a film camera records, and still there appear to be so many films that don’t seem to trust this and are choked with pointless words exposition, or explanation. We’ve been able to witness quite a number of pieces by India Donaldson such as “Good One”. High in the ranks of cinema, there are many distinct qualities that most of the pieces lack and that is trust. This is crucial both for the filmmaker and the actors. In “Good One”, Donaldson and her three slender actors: James LeGros, Danny McCarthy, and Lily Collins, have a perfect understanding of trust they trust the inner voice.
Introductions are a must because Chris (Le Gros) and Matt (McCarthy) are quite familiar with the feelings of a married couple, having spent their lives together as friends. He has always been the responsible one in the group, but he is now going through an unwanted and rough midlife crisis due to the end of his marriage. Matt has had some bad luck acting, he is literally hopeless out there. His teenage son doesn’t want to speak or be around him. Chris’ teenage daughter, 17-year-old Samantha (Collias), is determined and planning on going to college soon, so she’s looking forward to the end of high school as well. She is simply a nice and bright young lady. She is quite keen to go on a hiking trip in the Catskills with her father, Matt, and Matt’s son over the weekend. Sam is left without a friend to hang around with when Matt’s son etc turns and decides not to go. It is already too late to cancel.
The hike isn’t just a stroll in the park on a Sunday afternoon. This is a three-day event where everyone has a load on their backs and they walk for long hours over sometimes harsh geography. Chris and Sam are seasoned trekkers. They’ve got all the rituals figured out. Matt, on the other hand, is a clown. First of all, he has jeans on. He brings the wrong kind of packing. He doesn’t know how to pitch a tent. Tents, Chris is like a rock, and then Hatu Akira. There’s a sense of business-like routine among friends. Matt makes Chris’s life miserable and all the drama is in the hands of Chris. It’s almost as if he’s nervous or bored to the point that ‘jokes’ are the only song perfectly made for his sad soul. “I do not know how I managed to drift away like that. I am shocked at myself,” he recalls.
All this unfolds through the perspective of Sam. She is clearly a sensitive and intelligent person. When the two men ask her to give her views on their adult smokes, she takes them by surprise. Yet, something seems ‘off’ about all this. Yes, Sam is seventeen years old but she is still a little child. These blokes really do take some putting up with, and one of them is her father. They act as if she’s older than she is as if watching her get drunk and listen to her father and his friend talking about cheating on their wives is appropriate for a girl her age. What starts off as a good time (even though all the arguing makes it a rather bad time) is not so great after all. In fact, there’s a sense that, as the movie progresses, becomes more and more apparent that Sam is unsafe with the two men who she’s known for her whole life.
What really occurred then?
What’s even better is the fact that “Good One” has no pretensions about giving out explanations. One is almost involuntarily drawn to the film’s world with its stubborn unwillingness to provide easy answers or even moments of catharsis. Sam is on her period and constantly leaves the track to put in a tampon as Chris and Sam wait in the background to look at her effort, which they are almost completely unaware of. She lives in a different realm. The period is indeed an interesting touch, drawing attention to the otherwise and all touches are interesting in this beautiful film, even its name, dramatic to be sure, quite the opposite purpose, she intends to distance. The only females in the documentary are at the present still in the kitchen. Sam is by herself.
The only good thing that I picked out from the press screening was, how my friend and I found the film worth discussing when we came back home. There was so much to speak about, and I can’t shake the feeling it’s because of how everything is spun, really! “What for” is simply put and is absolutely quiet at any meeting. In this case, Donaldson deliberately goes the route less traveled.
Cameron swerves to feature shells of bodies in his frame and sees the bushes slowly revealing the bodies in action or capturing the bodies in action while shooting. Wilson Cameron, the director, focuses on the most animated swaths of the canvas, the borders of the frame, and the captivating arrangements of the elements. Something is obstinately in the foreground. Humor, discomfort, or anticipation flits across Collias’ face as unbelievably, she is a terrific actress and the film emotionally engages the viewer. Something detailed and energetically carries camouflage and hides beneath the soothing external view, and the “passive” inner perception at the moment is irrelevant.
Once out of the forest, she is unrecognizable. The environment undoubtedly has affected the inner and outer selves, leaving irreversible marks that cannot be hidden under any circumstance. It’s a fearsome shake in the tectonic plates of her existence. And it stays with her forever. She is an enigma.
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