In India Donaldson’s insightful, piercing debut, 17-year-old Sam (Lily Collias) 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 a gently quarrelsome brotherly dynamic, airing long-held grievances, Sam, wise beyond her years, attempts to mediate. But when lines are crossed and Sam’s trust is betrayed, tensions reach a fever pitch, as Sam struggles with her dad’s emotional limitations and experiences the universal moment when the parental bond is tested. Selected in both Sundance and Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, GOOD ONE is an emotionally expansive work that probes the limits of familial trust, understanding and ultimately, forgiveness.
“With her feature debut, Donaldson both wears her feminism on her sleeve through the story of a teenage girl observantly navigating male microaggressions on a Catskills hike, and wisely avoids overexplaining how impossible it sometimes feels to walk the earth in a woman’s shoes. Instead, she simply shows it.” —Tomris Laffly, Harpers Bazaar “India Donaldson’s debut feature immediately brings to mind the work of Kelly Reichardt. Not only does it have an appreciation for specific natural landscapes, but it juxtaposes the grand disappointment, quiet rage, jealousy, and the entitlement some experience in tranquil spaces… A remarkable coming of age film.” —Nadine Whitney, The Curb (AU)
