For whatever reason — in Karen’s (Otmara Marrero) mind, the selection is limitless — she decides to best cure for a bad breakup is a drive from SoCal to in Florence, Oregon and the vacation home of her ex, a celebrated artist known only as D. (Sonya Walger). A stroll around the grounds finds Lana (played with complexity by Sydney Sweeney), a young blonde, sunning on the dock behind the house. In the second of the film’s two May-December narratives, arbiters of morality and taste arise in the form of age restrictions and artistic callowness. It’s a safe bet that at least a couple of birthdays can be shaved from the 19 Lana claims to have celebrated. And when one look at a triptych of D.’s framed Rorschach paintings causes Lana to blurt, “I could have made them,” Karen leaps to the defense of her ex with, “But you didn’t.” Here is a mystery, characterized by many of the contrivances associated with the genre, which one can nevertheless abide. When the gun hidden in D.’s drawer does indeed come back into play, its return is powered by the logic of misdirected compassion, not contrivance. It appears that the younger woman Karen chose to rebound with is herself no stranger to breaking hearts (2019) — Scott Marks
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