Sophie Jones

Sophie Jones (Jessica Barr) is a teenager struggling with her sexuality. Underneath it all, she is struggling with the loss of her mother. This is an indie written and directed by Jessie Barr. This is a micro-indie. Apparently, Jessie and Jessica are cousins. This is a family affair. The acting is best described as naturalistic amateurism. It's almost docu-style. The film is technically sound. There are a couple of interesting scenes. I wouldn't say that I love this but as a first attempt, this does some interesting work. I hope that I'm wrong but I don't see a star making performance here. A diamond in the rough would make this material shine more.

There's a lot to admire here. The cast is uniformly excellent, especially the unknown young actors who genuinely look like high school students. And it's a handsome production despite what I'm guessing was a micro indie budget. The biggest problem I had with the film was Sophie herself (and Jessica Barr who plays her and is every bit as annoying as her screen personage). The character is a real pill, and I grew annoyed with her within the first 15 minutes. Accordingly, the 85-minute run time felt a lot longer. Maybe high school girls who see the film (will they even know it exists?) will have a different reaction. Overall it reminded me of an Eliza Hittman ("Never Rarely Sometimes Always") movie--esp Hittman's debut, "It Felt Like Love"--but not as good.

Grief can be very confusing and you just don't know how you will react until it happens. Losing someone as important as a mother during adolescent years would only make it more so. I think this is exactly how a teenage girl might react with the pressures of sex always there in those years added to the intensity of how the grief process can be. I especially like how Sophie's friends are such good support for her, staying with her while she works this out internally. This is probably not a film for a lot of people who may not understand what's going on. I will be interested to see further work this filmmaker does in future.

I am hoping I can expect more of my three young ones than this disgraceful and dysfunctional display....... Really creepy to think this is a relationship representation......

I too found the lead Sophie Jones totally distasteful in the first few minutes of the film and this did not improve in fact worsened if anything......

Director Jessie Barr's smooth peer into teenage parental death feels refreshingly more Bergman than, well, a lot American directors. Her soft touch allows the viewer to feel and absorb through brevity of words versus peripatetic, loquacious ramblings. The lead and supporting actors lend a natural and intrusive peek into their lives that felt documented not contrived.

Contemplative and enjoyable.