This became my initial film outing of 2024 – just me in a theater – and after about thirty minutes, it started to become clear why! Jennifer Connelly portrays “Lucy,” attempting to communicate with her daughter, "Dylan" (played by Alice Englert), while traveling to an isolated Oregon retreat. Dylan is located far away in New Zealand, and the impression we receive is that she isn't particularly engaged. That feeling tends to spread as viewers share in Lucy’s experience at the spiritual center “Loveranch.” It’s a supposedly technology-free location overseen by "Elon" (Ben Whishaw), promoting participants to freely express their emotions, thoughts, and minds through empty discussions about self-discovery. To the degree that this is intended as a satire of these kinds of exploitative establishments, it does manage to be somewhat effective – particularly with the arrival of model and DJ “Beverly” (Dasha Nekrasova), whom Lucy instantly dislikes, even knocking over a chair! Simultaneously, Dylan experiences an event on her unusual film set where she works as a stunt performer. This leads to her losing her job and rushing back home to be with her mother, who is now in custody. If you weren't already feeling restless, things escalate from there – a truly unpleasant depiction of familial conflict, a suicide attempt involving medication and a swimming pool’s shallow end, and finally, some serious discussions amidst the trees alongside a gently flowing stream! Can they repair their bond? Should it be repaired? Do we even care? I suspect this might have functioned better as a written script, and there were moments when Lucy's anger seemed to radiate from the screen. However, for the most part, it felt like watching a very substandard stage production, which once again highlighted my belief that Ben Whishaw isn’t particularly compelling in films – I honestly questioned whether he was even performing! As “Yoda” might observe, one enjoyable scene doesn't constitute a movie.

Source on TMDB