I watched this at the independent cinema on the 30th of May, 2025.
I thought it was…solid? It’s about a girl who goes on a three-day camping trip with her dad and his friend. The character analysis and development is really good, the personalities and fears and skills of the men really come through, but I thought she was a bit underdeveloped. The first half is essentially a bittersweet comedy about people at the start and middle of their lives, but it changes when the friend, having spoken about his divorce and his son hating him one night near the fire, asks the girl if she would sleep in his tent to keep him warm.
That bit was well done, I thought. It wasn’t downplayed, but it wasn’t made out to be more than it was either - the film did a really good job of establishing a deep audience sympathy for all of the characters up to that point, while ensuring that the girl’s reaction and unease was justified. The second half then turns into a black comedy. After she tells her dad, and he tells her to shrug it off, she becomes petulant and subversive. I did think it became a bit aimless at the end though.
It also did a good job of subtly showing how she’s automatically given the gender-based responsibilities they expect of her, cooking on the camp stove and cleaning the dishes, and resolving their disputes, and something I really liked was that it was always realistic, subtle, and pernicious in retrospect.
So a solid film, but overall lacking in drive and a clear message.