By John Corrado

In her confident feature directorial debut Good One, emerging filmmaker India Donaldson uses the premise of a father-daughter camping trip to offer an engaging, fascinatingly stripped down character study.

The protagonist is Sam (Lily Collias), a 17-year-old girl who ends up on a weekend camping trip to the Catskills with her dad Chris (James Le Gros) and his old best friend Matt (Danny McCarthy). Matt’s son decides not to come at the last minute, so it’s just the three of them backpacking through the woods.

Donaldson takes this fairly simple setup and uses it to offer a minimalist study of human nature and subtly interpreted gender roles. This isn’t really a film of big plot developments, but rather a portrait of three people and how they react and interact with each other (there are echoes of Kelly Reichardt’s mid-2000s gem Old Joy, also set around a hiking trip).

When Chris and Matt encounter a trio of male campers who set up their tents right nearby, Donaldson wisely focuses on the cautious looks Sam gives them as the sole female in the group. So much of Good One unfolds in this way, as Sam – who is pretty openly identified as queer – navigates this particular dynamic with her father and his friend. Donaldson lets us simply observe so many of the interactions between them, including those awkward things that continue to linger in the air as soon as they are said, and keep weighing on your mind.

At 89 minutes, Good One is a fine example of less-is-more filmmaking. The film’s minimalistic music and peaceful images of nature (cinematographer Wilson Cameron does a lovely job of shooting it) help set the unassuming tone, but there is also something lingering beneath the surface. Donaldson simply lets us be an observer; this is a mood piece, as much about capturing the vibes of a trip that we know will continue to stick in the mind of the lead character for a variety of reasons.

The approach works due to the naturalistic performances of the leads; Collias largely carries the film through her ability to simply observe and be present in a scene. Donaldson’s screenplay authentically captures the rhythms of how people talk; the dialogue sounds completely natural and conversational, at times rambling or mundane, until it’s not, and reveals more uncomfortable truths about the characters.

Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)

Good One opens exclusively in theatres in limited release on August 16th, including at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto, and will be expanding to more cities on August 23rd. It’s being distributed in Canada by levelFILM.