Writer and director India Donaldson (daughter of the filmmaker Roger Donaldson) develops a lived-in sense of authenticity with her three leads in Good One. Like a great short story, the movie sharply defines its characters to reveal a big truth from a small situation. The film is a lot like the works of Kelly Reichardt—particularly her breakout feature Old Joy—in how characters guard their feelings and show tremors under the gentle, easygoing façade of the action. Not much gets resolved in Donaldson’s film, and yet there is a well-earned, genuine sense of recognition.
Our point-of-view character is Sam (Lily Collias), a teenage girl who lives in New York with her divorced father, Chris (James Le Gros). When we meet them, they are getting ready for a weekend hiking trip. Sam’s girlfriend makes fun of all the gear she needs to bring, while Chris is the sort of dad who expresses his excitement by overplanning. Together, they pick up Matt (Danny McCarthy), Chris’ good friend from college, only to find out at the last minute that Matt’s son will not be joining them on the trip as planned. Even though this is a minor disappointment, the now-trio still grab their gear and drive out of the city to wander into the Catskills.
No emergencies befall the hikers, and on a surface level, their weekend is a smashing success. It is only through little things, like glances or crucial snippets of dialogue, that we sense anything is wrong. Although the hike is somewhat strenuous, the three leads have plenty of time to talk. Chris and Matt are middle aged, so of course they are preoccupied with their obsolescence and the hard truth that their best years are behind them. Sam, on the other hand, is reserved and more open to experience, and neither man realizes how astutely she reads them.
All the performances are correctly calibrated, giving Good One a lived-in feeling. You may not identify with these three characters, but you will almost certainly recognize people like them. Le Gros and McCarthy have been dependable character actors for decades, and here, they strike the right balance between neurosis, wisdom and anxiety. The men that became good friends decades ago no longer have the same relationship now that they’re older and have families, and the way they escalate and deflate tension is awkward—something Sam observes and wordlessly tolerates.
As for Collias, a young actor making her debut, she brings an effortless naturalism to her role that is always compelling. Her performance is tricky because she guards her feelings and rarely emotes, and yet we always know how her character feels. Like Thomas Mckenzie in Leave No Trace—another film that shares DNA with Good One—this young star’s performance could be a breakout that leads to more exciting projects.
Donaldson’s team all help add to the film’s verisimilitude. Her cinematographer, Wilson Cameron, resists the urge to make every shot of the Catskills look like a FOMO Instagram post while still making it look beautiful. The mountains can easily be foreboding, even scary, and yet this film underlines the appeal of a weekend hiking trip. The production values are also just right, highlighting the challenge-filled fun of packing everything a hiker might possibly need while away from civilization. But the film’s secret weapon might actually be Celia Hollander’s score which has no consistent motif—even to the point where the music leaps between genres—and yet the unconventional music always strikes the right note, especially in situations where Donaldson wants to highlight subtext or draw attention to wordless moments.
The tension between the characters builds up to the last night they’re together, culminating in a long scene that begins with scary stories and ends with uncomfortable truths. Matt has always been a motormouth, except now he’s also a sad sack, so his “scary story” is just an excuse for him to feel sorry for himself. Sam and Chris tolerate this—they literally have nowhere else to go—and yet, the scene ends with a focal point that completely changes Sam’s notion of her father and his friend. The fallout of the film’s climax mostly unfolds in silence and is longer than you might expect, so we feel the full scope of disillusionment. Good One does not have a moral or lesson, at least not for Matt and Chris who are so dug into their ways they cannot see the effect they have on Sam. But Sam, who starts the film with an open mind, probably won’t travel with these men again. They will never understand why, but we clearly do.
Photo courtesy of Metrograph Pictures
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