“Coming home is the hardest journey of all.”
VIBE CHECK:
Middle-America Drama / Atmospheric / Intimate / Bittersweet
THE PLOT:
Lauren, a young artist, returns to her conservative suburban home in Oklahoma after the sudden death of her girlfriend in Portland. Lost in a fog of grief and struggling to connect with her religious mother, she finds an unexpected spark with Carrie, the local girl engaged to her brother. As the two women grow closer, Lauren is forced to navigate the tension between her family’s expectations and the raw reality of her own desires. It’s a delicate "homecoming" story where the stakes are as high as the Oklahoma sky.
THE QUEER & RADICAL ANGLE:
Grief as a Catalyst: The film is radical in how it portrays queer grief. It doesn't just focus on the romance; it focuses on the hollow space left behind when a partner dies and the world expects you to just "move on" as if they were just a friend.
The Rural Queer Experience: It avoids the "big city vs. small town" clichés, instead showing the nuanced, often quiet ways queer people carve out space for themselves in traditional environments.
WHY IT KILLS:
Velinda Godfrey (who also co-wrote the film) gives a devastatingly grounded performance as Lauren. The film perfectly captures the "stickiness" of summer in the Midwest—the crickets, the golden hour light, and the stifling feeling of being back in your childhood bedroom. It’s a slow-burn character study that feels incredibly lived-in and honest. It doesn't give you the easy Hollywood ending, opting instead for something that feels more like real life.
EMOTIONAL SCORE: 8.6 / 10 🌾🌻
