Indie Fresh List: Not Okay, Resurrection, Vengeance, and More

As one of the darlings of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the debut feature from writer/director Max Walker-Silverman might seem like it has a lot of pressure on its shoulders, but its Tomatometer score (currently Certified Fresh at 95%) suggests critics have only grown fonder of A Love Song since its January debut. Dale Dickey (Winter’s Bone, Hell or High Water) and Wes Studi (The Last of the Mohicans) star in this tender, adult love story that manages to combine the lilting emotions of Before Sunset with the visual (and economic) settings of Nomadland. Dickey gives the lead performance she’s been waiting for her entire career, while Studi continues to bring the powerful screen presence that earned him an honorary career achievement Oscar in 2020. Tomris Laffly for Harper’s Bazaar wrote that Dickey and Studi “deliver deeply spiritual performances, harmonizing their gazes and bodily moves in an achingly restrained dance against nature’s mystical grandeur.” 

Actress Quinn Shephard (who you may know from 2018’s Sundance award winner The Miseducation of Cameron Post) made her feature directorial debut with 2017’s Blame. Now she’s back with her sophomore feature, a film perfectly apt for the modern internet age. Zoey Deutch stars as Danni, a young woman who finds the social media dopamine hits she was searching for after she lies about surviving a deadly attack on Paris. But the benefits of Danni’s new social clout eventually prove unworthy of the price. Critics have been particularly impressed by both Deutch’s performance and the film’s commentary about online life, with Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson calling Deutch “a squirmy wonder in the film, loathsome and pitiable and, perhaps, grimly relatable.” Not Okay will be released on Hulu by Searchlight Pictures.

One of the most astounding moments of screen acting you’ll see this year comes about a third of the way through Resurrection, as Rebecca Hall gives a seven-minute, one-take monologue where she fully reveals the trauma she suffered at the hands of a man from her past. And as the camera slowly closes in on her face, you realize it’s a film moment that will never leave you. Hall plays Margaret, a tightly wound single mom who begins to break down when a man who emotionally and physically abused her decades earlier (played by a menacing Tim Roth) suddenly resurfaces. But don’t mistake Resurrection for a trauma drama; it’s an impeccably crafted psychological thriller that delights in disturbing and terrifying its audience, and Hall’s performance grips you every step of the way. Upon its Sundance debut, critics were immediately impressed by Resurrection. It’s currently Certified Fresh at 81% on the Tomatometer, with Vox’s Alissa Wilkinson calling this sophomore feature by Andrew Semans “a stone-cold bonkers horror thriller” and “wildly entertaining.” Resurrection is being released in select theaters by IFC Films, and it will be available through VOD starting August 5.

B.J. Novak, one of TV’s great multi-hyphenates of the last two decades (best known for his work writing, producing, directing, and starring in The Office), makes his hotly anticipated film directorial debut with Vengeance. Novak stars as an NYC journalist and podcaster who travels to Texas to investigate the murder of a girl he was sleeping with. Boyd Holbrook, Issa Rae, and Ashton Kutcher all co-star in this comic thriller, which premiered to enthusiastic reviews at last month’s Tribeca Film Festival. Vengeance currently sits at 80% on the Tomatometer, with IndieWire’s David Ehrlich praising the deeper questions asked about the film’s characters: “Vengeance is sustained by the question of what its characters mean to each other; a question asked sweetly but shrouded by an ever-growing darkness.” Vengeance is being given a wide release this weekend by Focus Features.