Hyde Park Pick: Good One

India Donaldson’s Good One follows 17-year-old Sam (Lily Collias) as she embarks on a three-day backpacking trip in the Catskills with her dad, Chris (James Le Gros) and his oldest friend, Matt (Danny McCarthy).

As the two men quickly settle into the gently quarrelsome dynamic of old friends, complete with the airing of long-held grievances, Sam is a quiet presence who raises her voice to flitter between mediator and voice of reason. She is the reliable narrator that we, the audience, can listen to even if the film’s other characters choose not to, as they speculate wildly on the ‘mistakes’ of their past.

Collias is excellent in the film’s central role, wielding a beautifully natural performance in which subtle sideways glances and gestures within the space of the film all speak as loudly as the words spoken.

When events take a turn for the worse and lines are crossed, the binds holding the fragile group together become untenable. That sounds like a dramatic statement but what’s so brilliant about Donaldson’s film is how she has struck a balance between ugly, disheartening themes and the beauty of the landscape and the resilient strength of Sam. Collias and Donaldson together somehow bring their central character through this with care despite the absence of safety or protection from those we should be able to look to for just that. In doing so, they also bring the audience through safely without shying away from the hard truth that the ‘good ones’ too often aren’t as implicitly good as they might like to believe.

It's worth saying that James Le Gros’ presence can’t help but bring to mind another great American filmmaker, Kelly Reichardt who is an absolute favourite of many of us here at the Picture House. Le Gros’ performance in Good One feels like a companion to his role in Certain Women, just as the films themselves perhaps feel like works which could benefit from being appreciated together. Beautiful, reserved, powerful films about the burdens women in all their beautiful forms carry in a society made for and by men. Certain Women is a film I can go back to again and again, and in watching Good One I feel I have found a similar resource for the years ahead. What’s comforting though is that there is something a little more uplifting which Good One leaves me with, a turning of tides or a better balancing of power. Whether it’s Donaldson, Collias or Sam, I am excited for the younger voices, both real and fictional, shaping the world of cinema at the moment. Or re-shaping it, for a new generation and a new need.

Good One is showing at HPPH from its release date on Friday 16th May. You can book tickets here.