‘Miles Away’ Review – An Honest Look At The Highs And Lows Of Chasing Your Dreams [AFF 2025]

Jackie Quinones’s Miles Away begins with a voicemail from Jess’s sister, Melissa, calling in the early morning, her voice high and scattered as she laughs and asks when Jess will visit, and it’s evident she is under some kind of influence. It’s a simple, almost throwaway moment, but it quietly sets the tone for everything that follows: loneliness and family dysfunction. Quinones, who also stars as Jess, crafts a deeply personal portrait of a woman caught between dreams and survival. She’s an aspiring actor who works as a rideshare driver, a woman constantly performing, both behind the wheel and in her own life, trying to convince herself she’s still on the right path even as that belief grows harder to sustain.

The film quickly settles into its rhythm, Jess cleaning her car in the dawn light, waiting for her first passenger. These early scenes have a quiet, unglamorous realism that immediately grounds the story. We watch Jess navigate one ride after another, picking up strangers who become fleeting confessions or comic relief. What’s most striking about these encounters is how authentic they feel. Jess overtalks, often ignoring social cues, desperate for conversation because she doesn’t have many people in her life who listen. Through these short rides, Miles Away paints an intimate portrait of connection and disconnection, and how people bump into each other for a few minutes and then vanish, leaving behind small traces of themselves.

Quinones’s performance anchors the film. She plays Jess with this raw honesty; she is funny, frustrating, vulnerable, and I think to an extent self-destructive. Her scenes with passengers are unpredictable, never feeling written or staged. There’s a sense of life unfolding in real time, where each conversation might turn awkward, tender, or tense. That unpredictability keeps the film alive, even when the pacing slows. Jess’s interactions reveal more about her than any backstory could: her optimism, her loneliness, her tendency to chase validation from strangers rather than face her own pain.

One of the film’s most intense moments comes when Jess reconnects with her ex, George (Andre Royo). Their scene together is loaded with this uncomfortable tension. Royo brings a quiet restraint that contrasts beautifully with Quinones’s volatility. It’s not just a fight between two ex-lovers; it’s this collision of what Jess wants her life to be and what it really is. Their conversation feels like years of frustration and longing compressed into a few minutes, a raw glimpse of a love that’s long since expired but still burns at the edges.

Amid these encounters, Salina EsTitties as Laurel injects the film with a jolt of charisma. She’s magnetic every time she’s on screen, exuding confidence and warmth that instantly light up the film. Laurel’s natural chemistry with Jess offers a different kind of energy, a sense of playfulness and possibility that briefly pulls Jess out of her spiral. EsTitties gives the film a much-needed shot of vibrancy, her scenes balancing out the more somber moments and reminding us that life, even in struggle, can still be fun and messy and full of laughter.

Visually, Miles Away feels grounded, sometimes to a fault. The cinematography captures the realism of late-night rides but doesn’t always push beyond that. A bit more visual experimentation, something to mirror Jess’s inner chaos or fleeting hope, could’ve elevated the storytelling. The film’s emotional tone is strong enough that a bolder visual approach might have made it even more immersive. Still, Quinones’s direction is confident, and her writing is full of empathy for flawed people just trying to get by.

One more thing to add about Miles Away is its understanding of how dreams can both sustain and suffocate. Jess keeps talking about her acting ambitions, yet every failed audition and every disappointing day behind the wheel makes those dreams feel farther away. The film never mocks her hope; it treats it with compassion, but it also doesn’t romanticize it. Dreams can keep people afloat, but if reality never catches up, they can just as easily drag you under. That tension, between delusion and survival, between dreaming and doing, is where Miles Away finds its most honest moments.

Miles Away doesn’t offer easy answers or dramatic resolutions. Life goes on. Jess keeps driving, keeps dreaming, keeps trying. And that’s the point. Quinones captures the feeling of being stuck in motion, of wanting more but not knowing how to get there. It’s a quietly powerful debut and proves Jackie Quinones is a real talent we should all be on the lookout for. 

Miles Away had its World Premiere at the 2025 Austin Film Festival. 

Director: Jackie Quinones

Writer: Jackie Quinones

Rated: NR

Runtime: 81m