On the way back
A sensitive tale of redemption that offers some inspiring moments
The acting is totally top-shelf stuff in A Good Person, a well-meaning tale of addiction, redemption and friendship. It should come as no surprise to regular cinemagoers that the casting of Florence Pugh in the lead role is a gift that keeps on giving throughout.
The versatile British star plays Ally, a young woman who seemingly has her life on the right path when we first make her acquaintance.
The opening scene of A Good Person takes place at warm and inviting engagement party, at which a slightly tipsy Ally plays a song on the piano for an adoring fiance, Nathan (Chinaza Uche), and their wide circle of friends.
Inside of a year, everything we see at this gathering is gone. Ally is unemployed and has moved back home to live with her mother
(Molly Shannon).
The former love of her life is no longer in the picture. Ally was at the wheel during a car wreck that killed Nathan’s sister and her husband.
To make a bad situation worse, the nature of Ally’s injuries sustained during the accident has left her addicted to oxycontin (the notorious opioid that one character in the movie describes as “heroin in a pretty dress”).
Ally’s descent towards a definitive rock-bottom accounts for the first half of the picture, and extracts from Pugh a complicated mix of fury, hurt, desperation and defiance.
It takes a great performer to communicate all this in such a raw and believable manner, and Pugh truly excels at charting her character’s downward spiral.
The second half of A Good Person pivots on a coincidence that some viewers will find too contrived for words.
Again, some choice casting and fine acting saves the day.
Down to her last reserves of self-awareness, Ally wanders into a 12-step meeting that just happens to be also attended by someone she (kind of) used to know.
Daniel (Morgan Freeman) is a retired cop and ex-Vietnam War veteran whose alcoholism has resurfaced after a decade of absence.
Daniel not only happens to be the father of Ally’s former fiance Nathan.
Turns out he is now also the sole guardian of his granddaughter Ryan (Celeste O’Connor), a teenager who was orphaned as a result of Ally’s car crash.
I know, I know. It is a bit too convenient to put these two hurting characters on a collision course as contrived as this.
However, Pugh and Freeman treat the obligatory healing process documented here with the committed respect it deserves.
Anyone looking for a little inspiration from the struggles of others will find a lot to think about (and maybe even act upon) here.