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Mar 17, 2016 By Julia Bembenek Web Exclusive

Family gatherings ostensibly strengthen bonds, but more often than not they emphasize just how far apart people have grown. The causes or persistence of the divide isn’t openly discussed, but the resulting frisson is felt in every moment, between every word spoken. Trey Edward Shultz’s Krisha captures this tension and heartache in a film that is simultaneously uncompromising and incredibly compassionate.

Returning to the bosom of her family from an unexplained extended absence, for that most family-oriented, meaning-loaded American holiday of Thanksgiving, Krisha is equally a force of nature and on the verge of a meltdown even before she rings her sister’s doorbell. She has come to make amends and restore her relationship with her family, particularly with her estranged son.

The film excels in navigating the actual space of a family get together. With the kitchen as the center, we follow our protagonist around the entire house through the course of preparing the meal. The experience is simultaneously comforting and alienating, the trappings of lived-in suburbianity and tradition speaking of a familial intimacy that Krisha is not a part of. As she turns corners, she stumbles on scenes of everyday interaction between other family members that seem sacred and secret. It’s hard to find any purchase of her own and as the pressure builds, Krisha’s ability to maintain her recovery-zen facade wears away. The Thanksgiving meal ends up ruined, and so does everything else.

Director Shultz and his primary cast members are related, and the story they tell is incredibly personal. In the titular role, Krisha Fairchild is particularly effective. The edge of her presence is immediately felt, leaving the viewer to struggle through the same waves of opposing feelings of sympathy and fear that every character in the film experiences in reaction to her sudden presence. Though the narrative unfolds over one day, Fairchild’s dynamic performance brings a much deeper sense of history to the audience, making the experience of the film uncomfortably immediate. Dealing with issues of addiction and the impact that it can have on a family dynamic, Krisha never makes it easy to assign blame or even establish the facts of this family’s history. Relationships are tangled and unpredictable, intentions shift, understanding clouds. The line defining appropriate behavior, thinly penciled in at the beginning, is totally erased by the final scenes of Krisha, replaced by messy smudges of confusion, guilt, and love that speak much more powerfully.

a24films.com/films/krisha

Author rating: 8.5/10