Dragonfly

Dragonfly is the best indie movie I've seen in a long time. It fits into that take-a-deep-breath-and-return-home-to-deal-with-your-past film genre, but Dragonfly avoids the tired clichés.

Anna - played perfectly by Cara Greene who also co-directed and wrote the screenplay - is an unfulfilled artist who receives a phone call from her brother asking her to come home to Minnesota and help with their sick mom.

But Anna is reluctant and scared. Not only do Anna and her mother have a strained relationship, but her mother is suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's. And so begins a story that's as heartfelt as it is important.

From the start, the film's aesthetics are beautiful. Anna is an artist and photographer. As she explains to a gallery owner in an amusingly awkward scene, Anna's work involves painting over the photographs she takes to "change the focus" of each image.

It's a revealing moment that brings clarity to the unexpected use of animation throughout the film. From the opening credits, as Anna moves through her world, we see her imagined paintings come to life (animated by the talented Emily Fritze) - swirls of light begin to color an otherwise ordinary skyline, leaves fall into and move through a cityscape, a bicycle wheels across a Midwestern sky.

The artwork makes explicit Anna's hidden ambition and, at the same time, draws attention to what can't be seen by others, especially her mother. Most of all, Anna's choice to add layers of paint to moments frozen in time and memory suggest a covering-up - even denial - of difficult emotions and realities.

Across the board, the casting and acting is spot-on, with Jennifer Blagen, who plays Anna's mother, deserving special praise. It takes a talented team of writers, filmmakers, and actors to portray not only the complexities of dementia but also how one person's progressive disease affects a whole family.

The filmmakers of Dragonfly masterfully avoid the tired clichés of returning-home tales and, instead, force us to see every character - including Anna, our artistic protagonist - as flawed and frustrated and struggling.

Dragonfly is an important film because it opens a window into the often hidden realities of Alzheimer's as a disease that is covered over with stigma and shame. This is the story's heart - and if Anna were the film's writer, then the beautiful cinematography and outstanding acting are her layers of paint to the honest and important story beneath.

Highly recommended.

Dragonfly has quickly found a place in my heart as my favorite movie. After the heavy Venetian red curtain fell, seamless tears ran down my cheeks - I couldn't help it. The movie was beautiful (if you watch the movie, you'll get the reference) in the most basic, human way. I couldn't help but miss my mom and realize how much I loved her afterward.

Dragonfly depicts an early thirty-something woman. Comparatively, her life has never been a struggle. However, like many, she's always felt unsatisfied with her work and snubbed by others. Especially, her mom. Growing up in an upper-class neighborhood in Minneapolis - her mother a rigid attorney and her father a hummus-loving commercial artist - she's always had an eye for photography. In fact, the movie opens following her on a morning walk and occasionally stopping, envisioning her photo and then snapping it. With each click of her camera, the image comes alive, with moving, vibrant colors with Crayola consistency. Like many American families, her parents are split. In her eyes, her mother pushed her farther away. And, so, at a young age, she learns to run away.

Years and years later, her mom develops early onset Alzheimer's and she (involuntarily) comes to help prepare her childhood home for selling. But, to her surprise, she is greeted with nostalgia when encountering her favorite childhood memento -- a miniature white mailbox. A place where she connected with a mysterious pen pal -- 'Dragonfly.' The only person who she felt understood her as a child.

In all honesty, the mystery is not so mysterious. I imagine 40% of the theater guessed the pen pal a third of the way through. But, the depth is there through and through.

I felt love and connection. But also, a basic acceptance that the deepest human relationships are never pure, and in fact, are poisoned with deep misunderstanding that is catalyzed simply by who we are. But still, we love each other. Beyond shared value or belief, it's biological. Familial connection escapes all worded bounds and becomes molecular. In my opinion, that's why sometimes you can love someone so much that it hurts.

I watched Dragonfly this Sunday when it screened in Chicago, and I have not stopped thinking about it. This is an amazing film, that will speak to you whatever your stage in life. At the end of the movie, I learned that it will soon be premiering on Amazon. I cannot wait to watch it again.

The story is beautifully acted, and feels very authentic. The lead, Cara Epstein, delivers a mesmerizing performance as Anna. In her adept hands, Anna is a fully realized character. The supporting characters are also quite strong, especially Jennifer Blagen as Anna's mom and David Greene as Anna's brother. What I loved about the film, was that the I really felt where the different characters are coming from. This is a testament to the amazing direction of Epstein and Romslo.

Dragonfly is the rare film that is able to balance humor with real issues (becoming an adult, caring for parents, finding love). Another special thing about the film was its setting in Minnesota. In this era of seeing depictions of the art-scene restricted to caricatures of Brooklyn or Silver Lake, it was refreshing to see a true representation of the art scene in Minneapolis both in the cinematography and the soundtrack.

Putting my neck on the the line here I'd say the "reviews" of this movie come from people connected to it and their friends and family.

I found the acting wooden and predictable, also nauseating at times.

I'm all for a feel good movie; however, add some depth to characters at least.

Sorry for those involved, this just felt like a college project at best

There's probably an audience for this kind of movie far detached from the mainstream.

On a positive note, there are some glimmers of talent that could be worked on given better story lines, direction and production.

Dragonfly is such a beautiful film with a wonderful soundtrack and a very real story. The movie made me reflect on my own relationship with my parents. It made me laugh, it made me cry, what more could one ask for from a film.

The use of Minneapolis as the backdrop was a bonus as well, almost as if the city I know and love was another character in the movie.

The artistic creativity throughout the movie (I don't want to give anything away) was something I had never seen before and gave it a really unique twist.

I really can't say enough good things...see it, and fall in love with Dragonfly like I did.