With the exception of Wild (2014) and Tracks (2013), many films about finding oneself in nature or going for a long hiking journey are centered around men. These movie camping trips see men escaping the confinements and expectations of patriarchal society, allowing them to be vulnerable with themselves or friends for usually what is the first time in their lives. India Donaldson’s exceptional feature debut, Good One, from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, fortunately gives us a unique perspective in this genre. It blends the aforementioned standard structure of these films involving an expedition into nature with a female protagonist while adding a new and different layer of tension.
Seventeen-year-old Sam (Lily Collias) leaves to go on a weekend-long backpacking trip with her father, Chris (James Le Gros), and his friend, Matt (Danny McCarthy). The trio hike through the Catskills in New York, stopping to camp overnight. Throughout the trip, Sam is privy to both the personal lamentations and frustrations of her father and Matt concerning their everyday lives while wrestling with her own disappointment in both men.
Good One is packed with gorgeous shots of the landscape that surrounds these characters. When thinking of “getting away from it all,” most people picture backpacking trips as being imbued with serenity and clarity. Donaldson does inject this beauty and quiet energy into the film but is also able to juxtapose it with an electric current of stress running just beneath the surface. Right away, we realize both men are embarking on this journey with plenty of heavy emotional baggage, and Sam’s mere presence is continuously overshadowed by it. Donaldson carefully crafts what could at first be mistaken as a pleasant trip between father and daughter into a slow-burning thriller.
Hints of unease become immediately apparent as soon as the trip begins when we catch glimpses of it through Sam’s perspective. Both Chris and Matt begin talking over her and patronizing her. These microaggressions continue throughout the entire trip with both men unaware of any problems. It’s the kind of situation where someone might keep second-guessing themselves and eventually settle into a “play along to get along” scenario. We are aware of Sam’s uneasiness by the powerhouse performance given by Lily Collias. The camera stays fixed on her face when her father or Matt says something that causes her to be annoyed or slightly taken aback; everything is written clearly in her eyes and all over her face. She is incredibly both self-aware and aware of her surroundings while she deftly gauges the mood and tone of the conversations taking place. She unfortunately quickly falls into the role of peacekeeper while these two grown men each have their own separate self-indulgent pity spirals.
Sam repeatedly witnesses both men being selfish. Chris begins complaining about the dissolution of his previous marriage and shakes off any responsibility he had in it when Sam reminds him that both he and her mother had a hand in the relationship failing. He also waves Sam’s discomfort off after running into a few twenty-something male hikers because he would rather not move camp. He later talks of going on another backpacking trip in Asia soon even though he is recently remarried and has a new baby at home.
Matt is upset that his relationship with his son is strained due to problems with his former partner as well; he is jealous of Chris for having Sam, lamenting aloud late one night, “But you got a good one.” Even though he is supposedly Chris’s best friend, an inappropriate moment occurs in a scene with Sam and Matt, shattering any kind of illusion of safety and comfort that Sam previously had. Once again, Sam is disappointed by her father’s reaction to this as he makes the entire situation about himself. He selfishly ditches Sam’s well-being in favor of his own comfort and not rocking the boat in his friendship with Matt.
We soon realize that Sam is the titular “Good One” because she doesn’t “act out” in any way. As long as she lets her father set the mood and control all interactions, she is not an inconvenience or a buzzkill. She’s the good kid–the easy kid. If she does actually set boundaries or speak up about being uncomfortable, it is seen as being too much and being “difficult.” One can quickly surmise that she learned to act this way sometime in her childhood because it’s just easier for her to keep the peace and make herself and her needs smaller. Peacekeeper is a familiar role for her, so much so that she is managing grown adult men’s feelings at the age of seventeen in the middle of the wilderness.
India Donaldson constructs a concise and compelling story that shows another layer to father-daughter relationships that we don’t often see in film. Sam and Chris’s relationship seems fine from the outside; it is deceptively functional. Even though Sam was well provided for physically as far as we can tell, and she has no major resentment for her father, their relationship is still tense and dysfunctional. The film shows that even if the hurts are small and seemingly no big deal, they still leave scars and can continue to cause harm–sometimes even major harm.
Good One is a powerful feature debut from writer-director India Donaldson that has the gentle energy of a Kelly Reichardt film covered in sharp edges. It gives a much-needed perspective on father-daughter relationships, dissecting microaggressions and daughters’ disappointment in their fathers. It also depicts a teenage girl who has already had to learn to manage the emotions and egos of men in order to survive, which unfortunately, is still the default coming-of-age experience for women. The wonderful and naturalistic performances of Lily Collias, James Le Gros, and Danny McCarthy all blend together to form a gripping and uneasy narrative filled with dread. The film is a standout from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and is not to be missed.
Good One had its World Premiere in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
Director: India Donaldson
Writer: India Donaldson
Rated: NR
Runtime: 90m
Good One is a powerful feature debut from writer-director India Donaldson that has the gentle energy of a Kelly Reichardt film covered in sharp edges. It gives a much-needed perspective on father-daughter relationships, dissecting microaggressions and daughters’ disappointment in their fathers.
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GVN Rating 9.5
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When I’m not busy daydreaming or having an existential crisis, I can usually be found watching a movie or TV, listening to music or a podcast, or with my nose in a book.