Cast: Glenn Close, Emily Matthew’s, Anders Danielsen Lei

Written By:Robert Jones, based on the book.

Directed By: Charlie McDowell

Studio: Music Box

Release Year: 2025

*There Is No Known Audio Description For This Title*

What Is It?: A young girl spends time with her father and grandmother at their summer house on a small island off the coast of Finland. While she uses this opportunity to assemble a summer book of memories and experiences, the season is colored by the absence of her mother. A meditation on time, memory, and what we leave behind.

What Works: I’m an open book, reveal my bias type of guy. I got the invite to screen this, and I’m pretty aware Music Box doesn’t do audio description on a regular basis. But, it’s Glenn Close, and for those of us who are fans, it is impossible to not be curious with her work.without her presence, I likely would have passed, since the film is a struggle without audio description. But, I came for Close. I got Close.

Glenn is truly captivating here in an isolationist drama full of regret and melancholy as three members of the same family struggle with the reality that they now must forge on without their daughter/wife/mother. While dad is mostly occupied by grief, the girl’s grandmother is torn between wanting to enjoy time on the island to herself, and also passing along what knowledge she still has and remembers. In a more poignant scene, she recalls being instrumental in bringing Girl Scouts to the area, but can’t remember enjoying the experience herself. As her granddaughter begs for this information, Close laments her ability to simply remember what it was like to sleep in a tent.

She doesn’t have a shot in hell of getting an Oscar nomination or win for this, but I hope critics see it and it continues to build that overdue narrative for a more prominent Glenn Close performance.

I also adored the score, which is good since the film is light on dialogue. At least sitting through the scenes I had no context to, I was able to appreciate some really lovely music.

What Doesn’t Work: I don’t like going into depth, but I didn’t enjoy the lead performance from our young child actress. She delivered every line in almost the exact same way and lacked the kind of range we’ve seen from other young actresses this year in She Rides Shotgun and Bring Her Back. In a film about grief, with two adults still very much going through some stage, she seemed to be oblivious to the whole process. Precocious and inquisitive are traits, but they have broader tactics than shown here.

And lastly, the lack of audio description is just a bitch for this film. First, I’d love to know more about the island, and some of the choices made by the director, but there are many scenes with no talking, and you just sit and wait it out. This became a really tough grade for me, because I knew what it was when I went in, and I did actually get what I came for. I came for Glenn Close giving another captivating performance, and i got that.

Why You Might Like it: It’s a meditative drama, so if you were a big fan of Best Picture nominees like The Tree Of Life or even Nomadland, this might be up your alley. It also explores grief, in a rather normal way, not like A Ghost Story. But, perhaps not as well as A Ghost Story either.

Why You Might Not Like it: the audio description, for a blind and low vision audience that isn’t obsessed with Glenn Close should be a deal breaker. Despite this review being Fresh, I would never tell someone who couldn’t see to sit through this without audio description, unless they were a huge Glenn Close fan.

Final thoughts: Audio Description would only improve a score that is mostly defined by exactly what I came for. Yet another striking performance from Glenn Close, who reminds us yet again that we forgot to give her an Oscar.

Fresh: Final grade: 6.0/10