Sunday, December 8, 2019

Katie Says Goodbye

Movie Name: Katie Says Goodbye
Year of Release: 2016
Director: Wayne Roberts
Starring: Olivia Cooke, Mireille Enos, Christopher Abbott, Jim Belushi, Mary Steenburgen, Chris Lowell, Nate Corddry, Keir Gilchrist, Natasha Bassett, Morse Bicknell, Gene Jones
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Amazon

Synopsis and Review:
"Katie Says Goodbye" is Wayne Roberts feature directorial debut, and follows the story of young Katie, who lives in Arizona with her mother. They're quite poor, and in order to make a living, Katie works as a waitress while also turning to prostitution in order to save further money. Katie ambitions to move to San Francisco, lead a better life and become a cosmetologist/beautician. While walking home, Katie notices a newcomer in a local garage, a man by the name of Bruno, whom she becomes enamored with. She pursues him and they eventually start a relationship, though he's a bit distant, due to having been released from prison fairly recently. Sadly as Katie is trying to establish her life and leave with Bruno to pursue her dreams, a dramatic event occurs, threatening her entire future.
"Katie Says Goodbye" is a small scale film, focused on a character study of this hopeful young woman, who is possessed of a kind heart, and wants to follow her dream of moving on to a bigger city and leave everything behind. It's a film that manages to showcase Katie's tribulations as they get progressively bleaker and more desperate, and how her attitude filled with gratitude, hopefulness and kindness still balances it out. Though the supporting characters never get as much of a backdrop and development as Katie, they still make for an interesting menagerie of characters, particularly her mother, played by Mireille Enos and her boyfriend, played with quiet intensity by Christopher Abbott. The film however manages to get its strongest point with the casting of Olivia Cooke, who makes Katie a luminous and immense source of kindness and honesty. Her performance alone carries the film, and makes it worth watching.   

0 comments: