Reminded me of Nomadland, a film that did nothing for me personally. Look, if you like films with pretty postcard cinematography and plotless slice-of-life storytelling, then this is for you.

The documentary-esque scenes interviewing random non-actors that "rising star" Lily Gladstone encounters on her journey may appeal to some, but I found them unaffecting and disingenuous. The people were so obviously acting unnaturally during the scenes where they were supposed to be interacting with the character Lily plays. You can't pretend they weren't voguing because they knew they were on camera, which means it was no longer captured reality in any sense.

The format also severely limits the negative interactions that can take place because these non-actors are obviously going to want to seem pleasant and high-energy on camera. They share their homespun wisdom which lacks real insight and offers the viewer nothing to latch onto, really. The only real humanity here is etched in the wrinkles on their faces, something standard Hollywood fare is normally reluctant to feature in its stars. Some will find seeing these non-actors on camera refreshing, but I personally couldn't get past how sugarcoated everything was.

Gladstone has a pleasing presence, but she's not asked to do much emoting. She wanders from place to place, having quotidian interactions with strangers and engaging in the most banal of conversations. The format of these unnatural interactions ensures that Gladstone comes across as a passive viewpoint character. At some juncture, I expected the film to do the requisite character development for a film, but it never did. Nothing Gladstone's character says gives us much indication of who she is or what motivates her. We have a dead grandmother. That's it.

Finally, the big question, was this film saying anything important? I'm sure many reviewers, myself included, want to give this film credit for portraying aspects of the American experience less-seen in film. However, Morrisa Maltz has absolutely nothing to say about these experiences, either visually or through character's dialogue. We listen to countless radio hosts share opinions on numerous issues as Gladstone channel surfs during her long drive. But we are given no indication of what Gladstone thinks of these opinions or visual context to iron out Maltz's understanding. The scenes with Native American characters seem designed purely to convey the humanity of these people. Is that such a novel concept in 2024 that we have to give a film credit for putting it on display?

The conversations these characters feature in are dull as dishwater and offer no insight into their feelings about anything except quotidian existence. One scene features a character telling us the names of all the children in a room and their ages. In a fictional film, this would never be tolerated because it's information we don't need to remember about characters that don't even speak. Documentary filmmakers need to adapt more effectively to the needs of narrative filmmaking if they want their movies to engage. At 1 hour and 25 minutes, this film was a drag for me personally.

Sometimes movies can be too personal.

I saw the writer/director of "The Unknown Country," Morissa Maltz, talk about her film after a showing at Chicago's Music Box Theater. She was inspired by her own experiences driving across the country as a lone female, and the fear and exhilaration that experience made her feel. In the movie, the main character is traveling from Minnesota to Texas to stand in the same spot as her recently deceased grandmother did in a cherished photo. Maltz also did this. Any of this could be used to craft a relatable, more universal narrative that would resonate with audiences, but Maltz doesn't do that here. This film never feels like it gets out of her head. We don't learn much of anything about the main character other than her grandmother died, which, sure, is something to grieve over, especially if she had a large role in raising you, but still, isn't a dramatic conflict on which to hang an entire movie. Much of the dialogue was unscripted, apparently, and it shows. There are a lot of meandering, banal conversations.

Mostly, I just didn't care about this protagonist. We all lose our grandparents. It's something we are primed for and that's part of the natural order. I don't like to use the word boring to describe art, because it's lazy, but sometimes it just fits. This movie and this character were boring.

Grade: B-

This is a very compelling movie about a young women traveling across the Us to go to the place her dead grandmother took a photo. She goes to an Indian weeding, meets her uncle, meets new friends along the way and has a lot of fun. It's a very short movie that never feels it's too long and it's never boring( The complete opposite of Nomadland). Lily Gladstone gives a very good performance. I would recommend everyone watching this movie if you want it's a very emotional movie and there are great landscapes also. I saw another reviewer saying the movie was boring to him and that we don't learn much about the main character but first if he wants to see big budget action, go see a marvel movie and we learn just enough about her character( we also see her uncle like I said and the point of the movie was not to learn much about her it was just to follow her adventure). All in all, it's a very compelling and interesting movie that people should watch.