Tonight I went back to the Cinematheque at CSUN to see a new movie that opens this Friday in select theaters. It's an Indie film called "Sadie" (2018), about a thirteen year old girl who lives with her Mom in a trailer park outside Seattle. Her Dad, who she worships, is a soldier stationed in Afghanistan. As the movie opens, she is reading (in voiceover) a letter she is about to send him, expressing her hope that he will soon be able to return home. It seems that her father is in no hurry to do that, however, because although he had promised his wife and Sadie that he would be back when his previous tour was over, he went and re-upped anyway. His wife understands that he isn't in a hurry to return home because he is addicted to soldiering and also, he has fallen out of love with her during his time away. He still writes regularly to his daughter Sadie, though, and she rationalizes his broken promises of return by saying that his country needs him more than his family does. In identifying with her distant Dad, she has developed a military complex of her own, dressing in a green fatigue jacket and pulling her long hair up into a knit cap.
Sadie's mother is lonely. She works as a nurse and comes home to her alienated daughter, knowing her husband isn't going to return home, even when he comes back to America. But then a new tenant moves into the trailer park, a smiling but rough around the edges auto mechanic played by an actor named John Gallagher Jr., whose face you will recognize from various TV shows and movie parts over the past ten years. He is excellent as the newcomer into Sadie's Mom's life. We learn his back story and how he developed an addiction to painkillers. Sadie hates him for moving in on her Mom, who tries to explain the adult complexities of a broken marriage. Sadie only knows her Dad's letters. He loves her, so he must love her Mom too. Oh how hard is the passage from adolescent belief in what should be true to the gradual adult knowledge in what actually is true.
Kids know more than adults do when it comes to matters of the heart, because they aren't yet broken.
But when they become so, they try to fix the break, rather then resign themselves to it.
This is what Sadie tries to do. She sees Gallagher's character "Cyrus" for part of what he is : a guy moving on her Mom while her Dad is away. But what she doesn't see is that Cyrus knows her Mom has given up on the marriage. "Sadie" the movie has realistic characters. No one is a complete victim or bad guy. But Sadie sees things in black and white, and in identifying with her Dad, she develops a soldier's methodology for getting rid of those she considers her enemies. She does this to save her family, a child's most basic foundation of stability.
"Sadie" is one of the best independent films I have seen in recent years, reminiscent of the films of Kelly Reichardt, who also works out of the Pacific Northwest. "Sadie" was directed by Megan Griffiths, who I was not previously aware of, but she has a more polished technique than Reichardt, who uses non-professional actors in some roles, and whose films have a rawer look. "Sadie" is slicker, in a good way, meaning that it looks like an Indie film but plays like a major release because of the way it is shot and edited, and it's locations and lighting, but most of all because of it's cast and writing. Besides being a character study, it has the qualities of a thriller. Griffiths wrote the story, which feels like real life, with tweaked dialogue to make the characters stand out. Comic moments are provided by an 11 year old actor named Keith L. Williams, who steals every scene he is in. He is Sadie's best friend and neighbor "Francis", from an African-American family living in the trailer next door. Francis is a chubby nerd and a shrimp, and is a perfect foil to Sadie's taller, stoic stick figure.
The actors are all first rate, and the chemistry between them makes this story feel like real life.
This is a movie where I do not want to reveal much plot, but I will say "see it because it's really good"!
And I don't say that about very many Indie films, or even many new films in general.
"Sadie" is played by a young actress named Sophia Mitri Schloss. Her Mom is played by Melanie Lynskey, who I had not previously heard of but who is a New Zealand actress who has been in many well known movies. She got her start with Peter Jackson in "Heavenly Creatures".
Two Very Big Thumbs Up for "Sadie". Here's hoping that more independent films with have this level of quality, and attention to story and character.
That's all I know for tonight. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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