Charlie

What a captivating and deliberately paced healing-of-the-soul. This story is written, directed and filmed by teenage Alec Ybarra, and I'm very impressed! I loved the subtlety of the dialogue conjunct the immense pain and internal chaos the main character is struggling to overcome. The tenderness between mother and son is a sacred relationship, and nicely executed in this film. "Charlie" is an intriguing story I would highly recommend!

A teenager and mom deal with the aftermath of a traumatic event. Coping is severely hard for the pair. The things that take place in this story are realistic and the dialogue will hopefully encourage parents who watch this film to talk to their children about various subjects. The cinematography was good.

Depression is real and it was well displayed in this film. This was a creative way to show what goes on behind closed doors when dealing with depression. It's back and forth.

Charlie is a quiet film, paced to perfection. You need to be ready for a slow-burn emotional power punch, but if you know what you're in for it's worth your time. Since seeing this film and its beautiful cinematography, I looked into filmmaker Ybarra and was so amazed by how young he is, so I checked out his earlier shorts. While they show he was clearly taking the learn-by-do approach, this proves he sure as hell has learnt (each film improves). I'm blown away by the maturity Charlie, so please give it your attention. Looking forward to see what Ybarra does next.

This isn't just a slow burn. It embers that smolder for 90 minutes with the two leads putting their hearts and souls into the film. The film uses a lot of long, lingering shots. So prepare to take your time to soak it all in.