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A remarkable new actress has been born. Progressively preposterous, as it became that a 17-year old as special as Sam would go on a hiking trip with her father and his best friend, her acting will keep you watching until the end. Throughout the film, I kept thinking her face and expressions could belong to a precocious young French actress (think Léa Seydoux). Reading her biography, I found out her mother is French. I am certain we will see, and hear, more of Lilly Collias. Other than Collias, the two male leads, James LeGros and Danny Mc Carthy are very convincing in their roles. Both the camerawork and the writing are exceptional.

India Donaldson makes a smooth, clever, and captivating indie film debut that I thoroughly enjoyed. In just 90 minutes, she weaves a story about three characters that seems straightforward at first glance, but it's so sharp and engaging that you might not catch the deeper layers unfolding beneath the surface.

Sam (Lily Collias) is a sensible seventeen-year-old gearing up for a camping trip with her dad, his best friend, and his friend's son, who's around her age. When a last-minute argument causes the son to bail, Sam ends up alone with the two older guys on their wilderness adventure in upstate New York. As a grounded young woman on the brink of adulthood, she takes the good-natured teasing from the men in stride, but as the trip goes on, the dynamics shift, revealing more about who these men really are.

Though the two men don't often check in on Sam's feelings, they seem decent enough. Chris has always supported his daughter's queer identity, and she keeps in touch with her girlfriend whenever she can get a signal. Matt tells Sam she's wise beyond her years, calling her a rare "good one" compared to other reckless teens.

Scene by scene, Donaldson skillfully reveals the underlying dynamics, aided by the remarkable performance of Collias. For such a young actress, she brings incredible depth to Sam. As the relationships evolve, her introspection shines through, often conveyed more through her gestures and body language than through dialogue, showcasing a level of confidence and skill that's impressive for her age.

A quiet yet powerful film!

Good one dad... Not... I liked the subtlety of the facial expressions, the many close-ups, the hints, the looks. When will we be able to stop tiptoeing around men's fragile egos? It's not like they return the favour or care whatever we feel. We're just being emotional or crazy.

This deserves more recognition. It's a precious little gem. I'm sure it's not everybody's cup of tea but I think most women will appreciate what it's trying to say.

I'm starting to feel I might be blessed for not spending that much time with my dad as a kid, if at all. I would have hated being around all this. Although I've witnessed plenty of butthurt behaviour at family gatherings. Always triggered by alcohol of course. Brings out the worst in people.

Before writing this, I checked my calendar and half-planned a trip to a nearby bird sanctuary on the upcoming weekend. That is the effect Good One had on me, although the makers had different plans with the way the film moves from being about a trio nature-hiking to one about relationship dynamics. The shift is sudden and it's only then you realise that the writer had subtly hinted it before. You'd be lying if you say you were seeing it coming. All the cosiness the film had created till then goes away but you still stare into the nature and wonder about things. Good One has a good effect on you and I recommend it. Lead actor is terrific and so are the other two actors. Together, they have renewed my hiking plans.

This is a movie worth seeing without being unforgettable. The lead actress portraits her role excellently and the story has a nice reflective pace. There are some attempts to give depth to the other two characters, the dad and his friend, however despite their efforts to sound deep and complex, their interactions end up being lame and basic, due to their limited mindsets and stereotypical 'manly' existential struggles that do not show a glimpse of real self-awareness.

To all the reviews disliking the movie because it's 'too feminist' or negatively biased towards men, as a woman I would like to express that if you were one, you'd be very familiar with these dynamics since an even much earlier age than 17yo, no matter where/how you grew up. You'd be shocked to learn how often these weird interactions happen to all girls and women in the most random contexts, and from people you would never expect. I'm not saying all men are like this thankfully, but it's still too many. I hope this movie stimulates a real reflection on the normalisation of these dynamics in women's experiences.

India Donaldson's first feature film, Good One, is a quiet, slow-paced story that trusts viewers to pay attention and recognize important moments, even when it may seem that nothing much is happening. Good One marks the arrival of two notable talents: Donaldson and Lily Colias. Eschewing the typical storytelling signposts and noisy confrontations, the film unspools slowly, with cinematographer Wilson Cameron's keen eye making nature a vital part of the tale.

The dynamic of a planned three-day hike is markedly altered when Matt's son bails at the last minute, leaving 17-year-old Sam to function as a third wheel with her father Chris (a spot-on James Le Gros) and Matt (Danny McCarthy), two middle-aged men in need of more respite than a hike can provide, even with Sam there to reveal wisdom and poise beyond her years.

Not since Jennifer Lawrence's star turn in Debra Granik's Winter's Bone has a young actor so vividly presented a fresh talent to keep an eye on. We will be seeing a lot more of Colias. Le Gros brings a quiet complexity to Chris, bringing to mind his stellar work in Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women. Like Reichardt, Donaldson's film is not flashy, subtly calling attention to the faces of the cast and glory of nature. While Celia Hollander's quality score at times underscores the mood, it is occasionally intrusive when natural sounds and silence would have better served the moment.

Once the small, big thing happens, Matt does not speak again, nor is he seen in the same frame as Sam. Only very briefly is he on screen with Chris. The shots and framing are no accident. The implications for the trio's relationships going forward are suggested with delicacy. The visual storytelling makes for a sumptuous treat on a small scale. For a film in which "very little happens," the events of the hike change all three.

Written and directed by India Donaldson, the movie follows 17-year-old Sam (Lily Collias) going on an excursion in the Catskills along with her father Chris (James Le Gros) and his friend Matt (Danny McCarthy). A trip to the heart of the woods that naturally exposes each character's anxieties as they tread different paths in their lives. Wiser than her age, Sam is presented as observant whose mood goes from taciturn to enthusiastically playful to earnestly mature. Donaldson's attention to detail traces behavioral nuances that subtly illustrate shadings of perception that never depart from the natural and realistic. Dialogues weaving seamlessly without requiring inauthentic drama allows us to feel not only invested in what is happening, but also part of it.

According to Donaldson, the idea was born from her own experiences growing up and going camping with her father and his friends. Her debut length feature is, at its core, a character study that is interested in an immersive contemplative experience through the eyes of someone whose sensitivity might not be shared, not because of differences in what constitutes moral values, but because of a displacement in presumptions. By reason of the object of perception not being equally perceived, different readings of it are born. A decisive event in the movie articulates this difference in interpellation and renders what came before, our being with these characters and making our own assumptions after the time spent, something needing to be recontextualized.

It would be tempting to see in Good One anything but a reproduction of ideological discourses where the lines between good and evil are clearly drawn, and by doing so, something that voids reality from its complexities. Nonetheless, its non-judgmental approach is more interested in exposition than it is in lecturing. This is a story grounded in believable events and as such, said line could not be further from being drawn no matter how questionable some remarks might be interpreted.

I'm tired of people trying to make bad movies sound, I don't know, pick an artistic adjective. This movie. Not only was there no story, the acting and dialogue was horrendous. After waiting an agonizingly long time for the advertised twist, you are immediately let down by the movie just ending. There was a hint of upstate's New York's beauty but that was even a let down for those who have hiked those areas. It looked like the Shawagunk mountains near New Paltz. Lily's performance was the only redeeming positive. She's a great actress that deserves a better role. I hope this doesn't detract from a chance for her to have a fruitful career.

I think maybe son "Dylan" (a fleeting appearance from Julian Grady) might have had the right idea when he decides to opt out of his dad's camping trip with his best friend and his daughter. Seems that "Matt" (Danny McCarthy) is having father-son issues amidst a divorce after he strayed with someone quite a bit younger. His travelling companions are lifelong buddy (James Le Gros) and teenage "Sammy" (Lily Collias) who have a more typical relationship. She has known "Matt" for years and for a while their trip, trekking through the beautiful Catskill mountains, seems to pass off amiably enough. They even meet some fellow travellers for some who has been where grandstanding; the tents seems to go up without any slapstick and there's a little teasing about the nature of her relationship with "Jessie". "Matt" however, begins to feel a bit melancholy though as he gradually beings to appreciate that his family is disintegrating and after a revealing conversation with "Sammy" and an even more revealing and wholly inadequate one she has with her father afterwards, it becomes pretty clear that she is not without her own problems and her father has quite a bit of growing up of his own to do. It's a very slowly paced drama this, with most of the dialogue delivered as naturally occurring conversation. That works to an extent as sentences are left unfinished and inferences are made using facial expressions, but what is missing here is any sense of development of these people. We are left to make too many assumptions which rather lets the thing down as the story heads to it's crunch moment. That rather comes out of the blue and seems contrived to make the very point the auteur wants to make despite it not really fitting the profile or behaviour of the characters we had hitherto been walking through the wilderness with. I suppose, without giving the game away, I just don't agree with the fundamental message that the latter stages of the film seem to be trying to convey here and so was ultimately a bit disappointed that what started off as an light-hearted, quite wittily scripted, observation of family became something a little subliminally sinister for the sake of it. It's a gorgeous film to watch and Collias delivers engagingly, too, but films like this risk fuelling a growing misconception of an opportunistic or even predatory male stereotype that most men simply won't accept and isn't actually true.

The movie "Good One" follows a perceptive 17-year-old girl who joins her father and his friend on a weekend hiking trip in the Catskills. Director India Donaldson uses this setting to craft a story that starts as a serene walk, away from the big city, and gradually unfolds into a tense emotional journey. She effectively uses numerous silent close-ups of the teenager's face, building a quiet but palpable tension. As teenage Sam, Lily Collias conveys nuanced shifts in mood and discomfort through body language and facial expressions, rather than relying on dialogue.

The movie explores the complexities of adolescence through the quiet realization that adulthood isn't the haven of wisdom it once seemed. She begins to see that the grown-ups around her are often emotionally immature, flawed, and struggling to navigate their own lives.

The movie's biggest issue is that it feels slow for a while. You keep waiting for something meaningful to kick in, and it finally does-but only in the second half.

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Wow, 2024 Sundance really had lots of good movies this year because "Good One" really was one of my favorites from the festival. Filmmaker India Donaldson creates a strong debut project with good writing on the themes of generational differences, beautiful camerawork and good performances from the cast members.

Donaldson really captures the essence of nature landscapes, hiking, and conversations between characters and life. The atmosphere, camerawork, and sound designs are relaxing and many of the dialogue moments felt nature and realistic. All of the performances are good and Lily Collias was amazing in her first performance.

This movie really is like a good ASMR or vibe story like something made from Kelly Reichardt. Overall good movie.

From the trailer alone did it feel like a much deeper dialogue is taking place? You need to see this film.

In sight and sound, plot and characterization, this is subtle as a stream. Natural as a stream. Gentle as a stream. And as deep as a stream that somehow ends in an ocean. Or on the top of the mountain.

Obviously this young woman has been a people-pleaser (thus the ironic "good one"), but it's much more interesting than that, especially for someone her age. She is growing. Or to be more accurate, she has begun to consciously experiment with qualities like compassion and courage. If we don't grasp this self-exploration, some of her actions will seem puzzling or naively inconsistent.

Does the film suggest where this self-awareness comes from? Certainly not her father. Perhaps through the loving relationship with her girlfriend. One of many reasons to see this film a second time.

Coauthor Andreea G. Petruse.

This movie has nice natural surroundings. The pace is okay. The cast is not horrible. The plot is weak.

The only one good thing that this movie has going for it, is the strong performance of Lily Collias.

Her expressions and the way she provokes thought shows how good she is, and how much better she deserves.

The plot is simple. A divorced father and daughter go on a hike, with his best friend who recently got divorced. It's difficult for her to deal with these guys in their midlife crisis, and their clashing characters. The one an emotional wreck, and the other an emotional cold numbnut.

I have seen better hiking movies with more substance.

I loved Good One. It is a movie that requires some patience as you have to sort out some of the premise/context as you go and it is not immediately evident what the movie is about. I personally like movies like that, which require me to be more engaged. What I found beautiful about this movie is how subtle and nuanced its portrayal was of a kind of coming of age moment, inside the dynamic between a girl and her father. This moment happens like those moments tend to happen in real life: in nuanced and subtle ways, often via symbolic acting out. Beyond that, Lily Collias brings so much to the story in how she reflects and embodies the emotional complexity of the situation, without the film having to spoon feed you at every moment regarding how you should feel. There were a couple minor plot devices that I thought were weak, but I don't want to discuss them here to avoid spoilers.

I did watch the entire movie because I found the actress intriguing and I thought the movie would be provocative. For me it missed the mark. The nature scenes were nice,,, but if I wanted that I would have watched a nature movie. It was interesting enough to make it not nerve racking boring... but that was just because I kept thinking there might be something around the corner... which never materialized. Movies like this seem to always start out with a cheap sound track... when I heard the music... I kind of knew what I might be in for... and I was right. A very low budget film that in the end... reveals that. I wish Lily Collias well... she has potential.

A daughter, about to enter college, goes on a three-day hike in the woods with her father and her father's longtime friend. It sounds like a classic coming-of-age plot: older men share their wisdom, teaching woman on the cusp of adulthood valuable life lessons. Except, as it turns out here, it's the daughter who does the wisdom-sharing, though whether either the father or his friend actually listens is another question-perhaps one answered by the final shot.

Lily Collias, who plays the daughter, has a face always in motion and seeming to reflect even the most fleeting emotions. Each of the unhappy men is unhappy in his own way, and if there are any lessons to be learned from them, it's don't pay attention to anything I say and don't do anything I'd do.

The music is very well done and the photography of Upstate New York lush.

Loved this movie. Very solid acting, Lily Collias is wonderful especially. Made me think of The many camping trips I have been on in all of my 64 years of life. Complicated family situations are always difficult To direct and get a good story. For an independent film, kudos to the director, and to the casting director.

Each character brought a poignant point to their perceived experience in the story.

Excellent casting for all three main characters.

Highly recommend this film to anyone who has ever been camping in the real world.

The gear selection at the beginning of the movie is spot on, as are the camping scenes.

The location is easy to film, but not very important to the message it wants to portray.

Lessons on real family life are accurate, which some may feel uncomfortable with.

The script is solid and is not lacking in character development.

Truly a joy to watch.

This honestly has to be one of if not the worst movie i have ever watched.

I am super jealous of my wife who fell asleep 20 minutes in because i have just wasted 90 minutes of my life that would have been better spent watching paint dry.

I dont know what else to say really... im currently lying in bed shocked at how bad this was.

This is my first review on IMBD and im not one to ever leave reviews but i feel the need to warn people not to waste your time watching this.

I havent yet checked to see who made this film but maybe im jumping the gun but id imagine the person is maybe a feminist?

Horrible.

Good One is a beautifully crafted film that shines a spotlight on the power of personal transformation and the importance of embracing second chances. Directed by India Donaldson, this movie takes us on a journey of self-discovery, where the protagonist learns to navigate their past mistakes and grow from them. The film's honest, relatable portrayal of human vulnerability and resilience is both inspiring and refreshing.

The performances in Good One are simply outstanding, especially from the lead, who brings depth and sincerity to their role. Each character feels authentic and complex, making it easy to connect with them emotionally. The story unfolds in such a natural way that you can't help but feel like you're right alongside the characters, experiencing their highs and lows.

What really stood out to me was how Good One gently highlights the power of forgiveness-both of others and ourselves. It's a reminder that growth isn't always a straight path, but it's always worth it when we take that first step. The film balances humor and heart beautifully, leaving you with a sense of hope and optimism for what's to come.

If you're in the mood for an uplifting, thoughtful movie that leaves you with a smile on your face and a renewed sense of hope, Good One is the perfect pick. India Donaldson has created a truly touching film that celebrates the beauty of redemption and the strength within us all.