Directed by Cole Webley | Written by Robert Machoian | 83 min | ▲▲▲▲ | On VOD

The story this film is telling serves as a reflection of life for many, the invisible homeless, in these days of late capitalism. Small scale and intimate,  with a brief running time, the filmmakers tell a simple but devastating story with real life implications.

Dad (John Magaro) is taking his kids, Ella (Molly Belle Wright) and Charlie (Wyatt Solis), and the family Golden Retreiver, on a road trip. It’s clear the circumstances of their departure are fraught, and money is tight.  The children’s mother recently died, and they have very little.  They’re going to see the astonishing beauty of the country as they go, but given the lack of resources they’re going to struggle. Dad says they’re going to Nebraska, but it is unclear why.

The film pointedly denies us that key information about what Dad has planned. about what’s going on in his mind. It makes the picture an odd kind of indie mystery and road picture, a unique combination of elements I’ve rarely seen done so well.

Almost everything in the movie works: the performances are next level — Maguro of First Cow and Past Lives fame is no surprise, but the little girl, Wright, especially, is the heart of the film. She conveys so much by little looks, helped along by nuanced editing, cinematography and direction. So much is communicated here without dialogue, but somehow that makes it even more heartbreaking. The film has a quiet, impressive power.

A bit of concluding on-screen text provides the real life context to explain the whys of it all. While I can understand those who find that an unsatisfying screenwriting crutch, I thought it worked to deliver a shocking narrative hammer, one that frames the whole story in the real world of American precarity.  The movie serves as a portrait a nation where many of the most vulnerable are losing hope, where the dream of a happy family life can turn into a nightmare.