Good One Review: LFF 2024

A teenager navigates her relationship with her dad in impressive debut feature Good One

17-year-old Sam (newcomer Lily Collias) is going on a weekend hiking trip with her dad Chris. It’s meant to be a parent/teen trip with the pair being joined by Chris’ old friend Matt and his son, but when Matt’s son drops out last minute Sam finds herself stuck in the middle between the two adult men – no great bother, as the three initially seem to have the easy banter than belies years of close friendship.

Chris is a serious hiking guy – the sort of person that calculates the nutritional value to weight ratio of all their food before packing and has probably cut the handle off his toothbrush to save a few grams. Matt is the opposite, a chaotic rambler who turns up in the wilderness improperly dressed, without essential gear and carrying far too much junk to be comfortable. Chris positions himself as the expert, clearly desperate to prove his superiority and depth of knowledge whenever Matt or others on the trail suggest even a hint of a challenge to his ego.

Donaldson’s film is a subtle piece of work, the lush natural beauty of its setting and transcendent, hypnotic score by Celia Hollander giving way to a slowly creeping tension that is sure to be picked up by some viewers sooner than others. Around the camp fire at the end of long days Chris and particularly Matt are increasingly relying on Sam’s sage advice to sort our their divorces and relationship issues, as it does not go unnoticed that she’s the only one amongst them with even an ounce of emotional maturity.

Good One isn’t exactly a coming-of-age story, it’s clear that Sam has done much of her growing up and maturing outside the influence of her dad. It’s more a sort of ‘coming into her own’ story as she increasingly stands up for herself as the two men debate over perceived notions of masculinity. As the trio’s relationships shift and stretch apart over the course of a few days walking it’s clear that no one’s view of each other is quite the same when they leave the woods.

Good One is only 90 minutes long but crafted with a great deal of patience, giving its character’s a chance to meander and it’s audience a chance to analyse every gorgeously captured frame and lightly contentious interaction. As Sam plays peacekeeper and dutiful daughter, we can’t help but feel something is coming – and when we do get the reveal of what that something is it’s enormously vindicating. The crux of India Donaldson’s debut seems to ask a question that will be central to its female audience. When did you first realise you couldn’t trust men? For Sam that may well be this trip.

It’s an incredibly powerful central performance from Lily Collias who carries much of Good One with little dialogue. Her internal strength is so clearly telegraphed in her actions, her thoughts in her facial expressions; it’s a tremendous achievement from an actor so young.

A focussed, intentional and beautifully captured debut feature from writer/director India Donaldson, Good One is a confident piece of a filmmaking from an exciting new director whose work is already drawing comparisons to Kelly Reichardt. It’s ‘slow cinema’ with not an awful lot happening, so some may wish for more shocks and spills, but just trust that there is more than meets the eye below the surface.

Good One is playing as part of the BFI London Film Festival 2024. Wider release details have yet to be confirmed