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As hard as it is to digest, nice people also end up having relationship breakdowns. Very few films out there feature two nice people trying to make things work but are unable to. Although H Nelson Tracey’s debut feature film, “Breakup Season,” is not about making things work, it is a story about allowing people to be honest about their feelings and accepting that your lifelong dream of having a life together will not come to fruition.

At the onset, “Breakup Season” feels like a sweet holiday romance. Ben (Chandler Riggs) and Cassie (Samantha Isler) live in L.A. and after a cute montage that shows us the initial stage of their relationship, we meet them for the first time when they arrive in rural Oregon – Ben’s hometown where the two of them are supposed to spend the holidays with his family. Ben is extremely excited for this next stage of their relationship,...

There is a scene in H. Nelson Tracey’s Breakup Season in which the Russell family patriarch, James Urbaniak’s Kirby, is tinkering with a model train in his living room while his son and his would-be daughter-in-law argue upstairs. Beside his wife, Mia (Brook Hogan), Kirby looks like a child witnessing his parents' particularly ugly divorce in the middle of the holiday season. The roles become reversed as young Ben (The Walking Dead’s Chandler Riggs) and his girlfriend – or should we say ex-girlfriend? – Cassie (Captain Fantastic's Samantha Isler) are turned into the adults putting a damper on their kids’ perfect Christmas by staging an unexpected dramatic breakup. The so-called kids are, of course, Ben’s parents and siblings, who become entangled in a relationship that they shouldn’t know so much about. This scene is perfect not only in how it subverts the traditional roles played by parents and children,...

"I'm not trying to get back together with you..." Buffalo 8 will release this indie film in art house theaters in November this fall. Breakup Season is the feature directorial debut of friend-of-the-site & filmmaker H. Nelson Tracey after many short films. This premiered at numerous film festivals earlier in 2024 and it's getting an actual theatrical release. A young man brings his new girlfriend to his rural Oregon hometown for Christmas to introduce her to his family, only for things to go terribly wrong upon arrival – they decide to break up. But she can't leave, so they're stuck together for the holidays. "Funny, dramatic, and bittersweet in equal measure. Breakup Season is an authentic look at early 20s love & heartbreak. Subverting traditional holiday conventions with a more grounded and relatable approach than typical [cheesy] holiday fare, the film explores the topics of family and breakups with sincerity." The film stars Chandler Riggs, Samantha Isler,...