KRISHA

After being away for years, Krisha spends Thanksgiving with her family. But despite her sincere desire to prove to all on hand that she has changed, the holiday does not go as planned. Her mother isn’t quite all there, her sister isn’t ready to extend an olive branch and her relationship with her son is as prickly as it gets. Presented at International Critics’ Week at Cannes and at South by Southwest, where it won the grand jury prize and was an audience award winner this year, the impressive Krisha, evocative of the unsettling atmosphere of Polanski’s films, the intensity of John Cassavetes and the psychological depths plumbed by Ingmar Bergman, is the first feature by this young American director, an adaptation of his own short film and shot in only nine days! The film is a family affair, with the director casting his aunt, Krisha Fairchild, in the title role, as well as his mother and grandmother. With a predilection for hyper-composed single-take scenes, married to an editing style that captures all the chaos and clashes of this volatile reunion, while letting his story percolate its mystery just below the surface, Shults’ film features a compelling score by Brian McOmber.