Avis des critiques

Tender and rewarding... Another film might have needed a murder to send these chills but Donaldson is in such control of the tone, and her cast are on such exquisite form, that a single sentence has massive reverberations.

Good One is a film of surpassing subtlety, not least in terms of the three actors’ body language; the note-perfect Collias is a major discovery. Blessed by Wilson Cameron’s limpid cinematography, Donaldson uses the Catskills less for scenic pictorialism than as an isolated crucible for the film’s triangular drama.

[A] tender and rewarding debut... [Good One] is all dramatic subtlety and delicate character arcs, eschewing formula at every turn... What unfolds is both intensely compelling and almost impossible to describe.

Good One is a sneaky revelation, a low-key coming-of-age drama that deftly sidesteps familiar tropes in favour of keen cringe comedy and emotional precision... [Donaldson] has written a fiendishly clever script enlivened by a quick-witted ensemble cast.

This excellent film from first-time director India Donaldson is a smart, sympathetic and terrifically acted drama... [with] an outstanding performance from Lily Collias.

At times a gentle character study and exercise in human foibles, at others a scathing indictment of petty cruelties and gender violence, Good One burrows into the skin like a tick picked up on the trail, deepening almost imperceptibly over time.

“Good One” isn’t quite skilful or original enough to transcend its schematic structure. But it’s still a very fine piece of work, starting with its lovely, richly textured cinematography (by Wilson Cameron) through its precisely modulated ensemble acting, which sidesteps showboating and false notes from beginning to end.

Shrewdly perceptive... The pleasures of Good One lie precisely in its fulgent images, through which the natural and uncharted worlds dispense with stultifying habit and become one.

[An] outstanding debut feature... Out of a tight, terrific cast, it’s Collias’ performance – so alert and contained, its potency comes on later, like a time-release pill – that gets under your skin. It’s a star-making turn: not just a good one, a great one.

There are few films that speak more empathetically and with such complexity about the nature of feeling disappointed across the age divide... It’s the kind of naturalistic work that’s impossible to shake or forget.

Short, sharp, subtle... Donaldson’s script and the performances are never mean; they simply acknowledge some of the truths in which stereotypes can be rooted, of male insecurity and self-serving moral blindness, and they ask what a woman still forming herself is to make of them.

Good One seems more a cinematic short story than a novel—the narrative feels a little underweight for feature-length. Still, it’s astutely acted and crafted, with an interesting score by Celia Hollander that reinforces the subtlety of the character revelations here.