DON’T SAY GOOD LUCK – Review by Sarah Ward

Don’t Say Good Luck isn’t astute and thoughtful solely because it features Melanie Lynskey. That the Yellowjackets star was the only actor that filmmaker Julia Hart wanted (and even considered) for the movie’s second-biggest role is a perfect piece of shorthand, however. How do you instantly signal to the watching world that a film values emotional honesty, and that it isn’t afraid to confront life’s heartaches and struggles with authenticity? How do you convey that a movie that plays with plenty of familiar elements — such as telling a teen coming-of-age tale, and one about staging a musical at that, while unfurling an illness story — won’t settle for standard? You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah’s Sunny Sandler is Don’t Say Good Luck’s lead, but Lynskey is its lighthouse.

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LADY OF THE MANOR – Review by Susan Granger

Since filmmaking brothers Justin and Christian Long are from Fairfield, Connecticut, friends and neighbors have expressed interest in their wannabe buddy comedy, set in Savannah, Georgia. The story ostensibly revolves around Hannah (Melanie Lynskey), a crass, weed-smoking slacker who drops a drug delivery in the wrong residence, a house that’s been set to trap a child-molester.

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SADIE – Review by MaryAnn Johanson

Sadie has a disturbing power that sneaks up on you from an unexpected quarter, as a teenaged girl crosses the boundary from childhood to too-early adulthood. This coming-of-age story feels very universal, and would work equally well with a teenaged boy at its center, but which gets extra unnerving power by casting it as a girl’s journey.

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK October 12, 2018: SADIE

motw logo 1-35Moody and pensive, Megan Griffiths’ Sadie isn’t your typical coming-of-age drama. It centers on 13-year-old Sadie (Sophia Mitri Schloss), who’s determined to do whatever it takes to keep her family together, despite her soldier father’s long deployment overseas and her mother, Rae’s (Melanie Lynskey), increasing loneliness and dissatisfaction with her long-distance marriage. Schloss and Lynskey deliver heart wrenching performances in this strikingly femme-centric film which shoots an arrow right into the heart of domestic disruption that results from faraway wars.

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