2024

Good One

17-year-old Sam joins her dad and his oldest friend on a three-day backpacking trip in the Catskills. While the two men quickly settle into a brotherly dynamic, airing grievances and mid-life crises, Sam observes as the thoughtful “good one”. Against the backdrop of the lush beauty of upstate New York, Sam struggles with her dad’s emotional limitations and slowly becomes disillusioned with her relationship with the two men.

Director

India Donaldson

Runtime

90 Minutes

Country

United States

Classification

Unclassified 15+

On a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam contends with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend.

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). Against the backdrop of the lush beauty of upstate New York, Sam struggles with her dad’s emotional limitations and slowly becomes disillusioned with her relationship with the two men.

What was meant to be a bonding trip between two fathers and their first-borns, soon dissolves into Sam mediating the duelling egos and grievances of the two men when Matt’s son bails on the trip at the last minute. After a line is crossed, Sam’s perception of the trip shifts as she begins to break free from her role as the ‘good one’ in the family.

India Donaldson’s thoughtful debut is a quietly confident portrait of the universal moment when the parental bond is forever broken, while Collias’ breakthrough performance captures teenage girlhood in subtle expressions and things left unsaid.

“It’s genuinely one of the best show-don’t-tell performances in modern American cinema.”

Rolling Stone

“Good One is as complete a piece of storytelling as you’ll see all year.”

Los Angeles Times

Cannes, New York, Sundance, Melbourne

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Film Credits

Director

India Donaldson

Year

2024

Country

United States

Language

English

Type

Feature & Fiction

Program Strand

Feature Fiction Competition & World Cinema

Producer

Graham Mason, Diana Irvine & Wilson Cameron

Writer

India Donaldson

Cinematographer

Wilson Cameron

Editor

Graham Mason

Cast

Lily Collias, James Le Gros & Danny McCarthy

Film Source

Visit Films

Genre

Coming of Age, Drama & Nature

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