Jennifer Lawrence, star of The Hunger Games and an Oscar-winner for Silver Linings Playbook, introduces her new film - an astutely observed, quietly impactful story of a US soldier adjusting to life back home - to the BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express (5-16 October).
Following a traumatic brain injury sustained while serving in Afghanistan, Lynsey (Lawrence) returns to the US where she undergoes a slow and painful process of rehabilitation. As her condition steadily improves, the prospect of another difficult ordeal lies ahead - returning to her hometown in New Orleans. Back in a place she tried to forget, in a house with a mother she struggles to connect with, Lynsey feels desperately alone, until she meets James (Brian Tyree Henry), a car mechanic also wrestling with the heavy burden of past traumas. An initial bond soon develops into a firm friendship, but while each offers the other companionship they so desperately need, they also have the capacity to cause harm.
With her remarkably assured debut feature, Lila Neugebauer has crafted a richly affecting and thoughtful portrait of grief, trauma, co-dependency and the difficulty of moving forward. Allowing viewers the space in which to think, this is drama devoid of dramatics, instead defined by its stillness and its silence.
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