Good One is a crafty feature debut from writer-director India Donaldson, in that its unassuming air and “small” story create little ripples that eventually coalesce into something shattering. Lily Collias plays Sam, a 17-year-old who tags along on a camping trip with her father (James Le Gros) and his longtime friend (Danny McCarthy). Over the course of a few nights in the wilderness—chronicled by Donaldson with an eye and ear for both the natural world and the fraught human landscape—it’s not so much that secrets are revealed as low expectations are met. Both men are excellent as supposed role models increasingly uncomfortable in their middle-age skin, yet it’s Collias—in her first major role—who stuns. She softly captures a character on the verge of adulthood, but one whose uncommon emotional intelligence has already placed her there. She knows these men are disappointments well before they do. Keep an eye on her—and Donaldson too.
(8/6/24)
