What Breaks the Ice

Writer/Director Rebecca Eskreis set out to leverage a suspense tale off the well-worn townie-vs-tourist theme, and pretty much succeeds. In a period where all the A-listers are now working in the streaming world, competent little films like this one are no longer quite as common as they used to be, with "new lows" being set daily in the indie world. Not only do the two young leads work well together, but Hublitz (of Ozarks fame) shows an authenticity that reminds one of a young Laura Dern, with a very promising career ahead. Thumps up.

A wealthy girl comes to vacation and befriends a townie with issues. They spend most of the time partying, drinking and hanging out with boys. An incident happens, and they struggle to over come it and it ends with a very unrealistic ending. A pretty boring and pointless movie.

It's a great first hour of character building and acting. Super enjoyable drama and coming of age story. Once they introduce the lady detective the movie turns into a flaming pile of poop.

Why do writers want to force emotion and drama and use bad premises to do it. It's just crap man. The 2 lead actors are great and the first hour is also, but the last third ruin the entire movie and I can't give it a good rating. The end.

I'm writing this as I watch and I've just gotten to the big scene where "something" happens with Sammi's stepbrother (Travis) and Emily. I have no idea what. I've watched it twice and the low lighting still won't reveal the secret. No clue. Sammy is all teary eyed and she didn't even seem to like him. Emily is a zombie.

Now it's the morning after and neither girl is freaking out, scared. They don't even seem aware something happened. Radio silence.

Up until now it's been your typical Connecticut Yankee type of movie. Emily is rash and careless and knows she'll escape b/c she has money. Sammi is mostly the opposite. She knows she's stuck so she's a little more careful but can be tempted to the dark side.

There's jealousy from both girls. Emily has options. Sammi has freedom. Emily takes chances. Sammi sees repercussions. Emily gets to leave. Sammi has to stay.

There's romantic tension between Sammi and Travis, along with family tension and a divide about staying or going.

As the mystery unfolds, we see lots of flashbacks but the movie is lacking emotion. I know the director intended it to be there - the scenes suggest it should be, but it's missing. The one scene where I felt something is where Travis introduces music to a really sad scene - you can feel his intent and the results.

The scenery is beautiful - it's captured wonderfully in this small town that relies on seasonal tourism to breathe life into it. It's much like our two protagonists - one stuck, one flying by.

Greetings again from the darkness. We've seen movies where the seasonal residents interact with the locals, and often the class differences come into play. The term for northerners who head south for the winter is 'snowbirds'. In the Hudson Valley, we learn the 'townies' have a nickname for the rich folks who come for the summer ... 'Joy Riders'. This is the first feature film from writer-director Rebecca Eskreis, and she displays a real feel for the contrast that exists between these two groups.

Madelyn Cline (BOY ERASED, 2018) stars as Emily, one of the wealthy 'joy riders' who befriends local townie Sammy (Sofia Hublitz, who is so good as the daughter in "Ozark"). For no good reason, other than Madelyn's boredom, the two girls become friends. They hang out, play tennis, and have lunch together. One night they are at a party and things go bad with Sammy's creepy stepbrother Travis (Joel Allen, THE PURGE, 2019). The event not only tests the friendship of Sammy and Emily, but also reveals character and secrets from the past.

The film opens with a cool shot of Hudson Valley, and in fact, cinematographer Greta Zozula does a nice job through the entire film. As you would expect with teenagers, things get complicated, and the class difference is only part of what makes the story and characters interesting. Supporting roles are filled by Lukas Gage ("The White Lotus"), Aimee Mullins ("Stranger Things"), and Shakira Barrera ("GLOW"), but most of the heavy lifting here comes courtesy of Ms. Cline and Ms. Hublitz, despite both being a bit too old to play teenagers.

Not quite at the level of THOROUGHBREDS, a similar movie from 2018, the film certainly proves Rebecca Eskreis is a filmmaker to follow. She understands small town dynamics, class disparities, and female friendships ... and does so in a way that's grounded and realistic. There is no staginess to this production, and we have a real feel for the characters almost immediately - a tribute to the actors and the script.

In theaters and on Digital beginning October 1, 2021.