An 11-year-old girl watches her father come down with a crippling depression. Over one summer, she learns answers to several mysteries and comes to terms with love and loss.
Acting
Valentina de Angelis carries the whole film at eleven.
Cinematography
New Mexico desert becomes a character—beautiful and suffocating.
Writing
Joan Ackermann's play adaptation, poetic and unsentimental.
Director
Campbell Scott
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Campbell Scott directed this between acting gigs, and it's his only feature—he never directed again, which feels weirdly appropriate for a film about people who stop doing what they're supposed to do.
This bombed in 2003 because it wasn't 'indie-quirky' like Little Miss Sunshine—it was actually sad, which audiences apparently weren't ready for. Sundance loved it though, because of course they did.
US
