Provo

I saw this at the 2022 Lake County Film Festival. I made it a point to see this particular film, because of its strong female cast and crew.

Once you get past the first few minutes of a chaotic party scene, the story settles in. If that first part was cut, it would not harm the film at all. But it sets the tone, I guess, that this was going to be about one messed up girl. But that is pretty clear anyway.

If you like stories centered around cross country trips and what could and will go wrong, you'll like this one. Don't expect them to get robbed or have car trouble, because that doesn't happen. This is not a horror film. It's about the relationship between two friends and the evolution of their own story within the story. It is also about one troubled girl finding her way back home if only for a few days.

I saw this at the opening night of the Chicago Underground Film Festival and it is absolutely terrific! Starting with an authentic and genuinely moving script, "Provo" takes the familiar road trip film structure but makes it feel fresh and new again. With strong writing comes great performances and writer/director/editor Emma Thatcher carries this movie effortlessly and never shies away from raw vulnerability on screen. And co-star Hunter Bryant equally commands the screen. There is not one wrong note from any of the other characters on screen. Besides the writing, directing, and performances, the cinematography and music fire on all cylinders. Neil Shukla's cinematography in particular embraces natural light and helps to envelope the characters and the viewer in these various landscapes. Even the various Chicago shots at the beginning are visually exciting. "Provo" belongs in the company of substantial road trip slice of life films such as "Five Easy Pieces," "Sideways," and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore."

Not at all my type of people, grungy, hipster, free flowing, drinking and drugging that is. In fact after 10 minutes I almost gave it up, but something about the main character kept me interested enough to persevere. And I'm glad that I did, as it turned out to be an involving hour and a half road trip film. The chemistry between the two leads was good, humorous, maybe a bit too much banter at times. But their relationship settled down into a journey with real across the spectrum emotions evolving between the two.

The sights and sounds of an American road trip were good, more events of interactions with locals along the way would have been appreciated, but maybe that was curtailed by the budget and or time restraints?