Beloved by critics and festivalgoers out of this year’s Sundance, India Donaldson’s feature directorial debut “Good One” is now set to be the sole American film playing in Directors’ Fortnight at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The coming-of-age story about the ramifications of a father-daughter camping trip is also the first new release from Metrograph Pictures. IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer and poster below.
Per the official synopsis, in “Good One,” 17-year-old Sam (Collias) “embarks on a three-day backpacking trip in the Catskills with her dad, Chris (Le Gros) and his oldest friend, Matt (McCarthy). As the two men quickly settle into a gently quarrelsome brotherly dynamic, airing long-held grievances, Sam, wise beyond her years, attempts to mediate. But when lines are crossed and Sam’s trust is betrayed, tensions reach a fever pitch, as Sam struggles with her dad’s emotional limitations and experiences the universal moment when the parental bond is tested.” Selected in both Sundance and Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, “Good One” is an emotionally expansive work that probes the limits of familial trust, understanding, and ultimately, forgiveness.
“Growing up I always felt a strong need to keep the peace,” Donaldson said in comments shared with IndieWire. “I was quite often praised for being nice or easygoing but those are double-edged compliments that can also feel like insults when you’re young. And then as I got older, I started to realize this impulse wasn’t really serving me in my life or my relationships. In writing this story, I wanted to really grapple with that pull young women feel to form themselves around the needs of others.”
From IndieWire’s review: “A slight but sensitive and fantastically assured debut that unfolds with the pointillistic detail of a great short story, India Donaldson’s ‘Good One’ is a coming-of-age story that jettisons all of the genre’s most familiar trappings in favor of a long walk in the woods.”
“Good One” opens in theaters Friday, August 9 from Metrograph Pictures. Check out the film’s first trailer, an IndieWire exclusive, below.
