In India Donaldson’s magnificent character study “Good One,” Sam (Lily Collias) doesn’t know where to sit. On her way to the Catskills to go camping, she takes a natural position in the passenger seat next to her father Chris (James Le Gros), but could soon be displaced once his longtime friend Matt (Danny McCarthy) joins them for the weekend. She might also need to make room for Chris’ son Dylan if he was inclined to join them, but judging from the shouting match on their stoop over a divorce that’s about to be finalized, that isn’t going to happen, leaving two aggrieved teens when Sam is eventually shuffled off into the backseat, where it could be more cozy when it comes with more legroom, but less so when it is a subtle reflection of her place in the pecking order.
There’s a pile of rocks along the bank of a river, stacked towards the sky and balanced upon one another in spite of all their rough edges at the start of “Good One,” and while you wonder how they don’t collapse, you only need to pay attention to how delicately the writer/director builds her exquisite profile of the 17-year-old Sam to understand. Shrewdly, Donaldson doesn’t waste time explaining how the trip came to be, though it probably wouldn’t be Sam’s first choice of how to spend her weekend. Then again, it wouldn’t be her last, either, more enamored with the prospect of eating powdered peanut butter than you might think and conceding that there might not be all that more opportunities to spend quality time with her dad when college awaits. It also may be surprising that while it’s assumed she’s the odd one out in the group dynamic, it’s not for the reasons you’d think – more mature, sensible and easygoing than Chris and Matt, she hardly sees how any of that is of any benefit when she continues to defer to them because of her age and when her dad remains her ride home, asserting herself is never as easy as it should be.
Sam may not be able to take the lead when Chris and Matt are around, but she becomes impossible not to follow, in no small part to Collias’ radiant performance and Donaldson’s attention to detail in observing her, conscious of everything Sam has already processed for herself and has made peace with versus what she’s only taking in now and dealing with in the moment. Buffered by two knuckleheads who have grown too set in their ways to change, she’s often asked for her opinion, but ends up just as often being dismissed after already doing the work of deciding whether to offer it and Collias gracefully expresses how these rejections slowly start to pile up, as much as she’s become accustomed to paying them no mind. (A lovely score from Celia Hollander makes off-key moments as valuable a part of the experience as when it exudes elegance.)
Reminiscent of how Nicole Holofcener and Kelly Reichardt’s remarkable feel for characters that are well-intentioned yet really don’t know how best to engage with one another, Donaldson isn’t interested in creating any villain other than the uncertainty that bedevils Sam as she starts to develop a mind of her own and sees the adults in her life as human with failings there may be no remedy for. LeGros and McCarthy are convincing as their pair of old buddies who have stuck with one another despite their clear differences — while Chris is adamant about keeping his knapsack to the bare minimum, Matt is happy to load up at the convenience store at the edge of the woods, wanting to live it up after booking an IBS commercial as an actor – and while Sam has accepted their faults, she doesn’t need to continue to be affected by them or to fall into the traps they did by emulating them. Some of the best scenes in “Good One” involve Sam showing the person she’s become independent of them, clearly dazzling Chris and Matt with how she’s able to dress up a drab pot of instant ramen or sizing up their marriages without being quite convinced herself of how special she is, and in taking notice, Donaldson creates something remarkable of her own.
“Good One” will screen again at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22nd at 11:30 am at Redstone Cinemas 2 in Park City, January 24th at 8 pm at Broadway Centre Cinemas 3 in Salt Lake City and January 26th at 12:30 pm at the Egyptian Theatre at 12:30 pm in Park City. It will also be available to stream from January 25th through 28th.