[Rating: Rock Fist Way Up]
Now in theaters
I have noticed in the past two years, the spring movie release always tends to surprise me with a few low-brow films that tend to make it into my top films at the end of the year.
These are films that tend to have performances that are memorable and plots that are straight and to the point with enough emotion to make me (already an emotional film watcher) emotional.
A Good Person (directed by Zach Braff) is just this film for the spring. Led by two actors who know what the hell they’re doing and need no help finding their inner demons, this was one helluva good film.
Allison (Florence Pugh) is set to marry Nathan (Chinaza Uche). When driving her future sister-in-law to help pick out wedding dresses, a fatal car accident occurs and Allison’s life is forever changed. She is now addicted to opioids, lives with her overbearing mother Diane (Molly Shannon) and no longer is engaged to Nathan. Her life is literally in a wreck after a year and doesn’t seem to have a set path on where she wants to go. On the flipside Daniel (Morgan Freeman) has also been impacted by the car accident as it was his daughter who had died. He is now left to raise his teenage granddaughter Ryan (Celeste O’Connor), who doesn’t always see eye to eye with Daniel.
Allison and Daniel’s two worlds once again meet when they both encounter one another at AA. Allison feels nothing but regret and remorse for her role in Daniel losing his daughter and yet, Daniel welcomes her into his life (with some reservations) as a coping mechanism to keep him away from alcohol. Together they try to patch up their history together while both battling their inner demons.
Pugh and Freeman can fucking ACT. When watching this all I could think about was that if this was released at the tail end of the year, they’d be nominated for a few awards. Their chemistry in this is dynamic and they work so well together through their own personal grief. Pugh in particular always melts into her role so well that I wanted to reach through the screen and help her.
This is a film about grief that Braff pieces together so well that we might never see the two reach a moment of acceptance of their own troubles. However, finding a means of support can make all the difference.
Christian Ramos is a classic film fan, having had the dream to host Turner Classic Movies for years now. He also has a large amount of Oscar trivia in his head, remembers dressing as Groucho Marx one Halloween, and cherishes the moment Julianne Moore liked his tweet.
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