For When You Get Lost Review: Finding Home Again
Streaming Movie Review - Comedy/Drama - VOD
The process of losing anyone close to you can be complicated because there is a desire to heal any rifts that might exist between you while there is time. That feeling is amplified when it is a parent. Michelle Steffes addresses those anxieties in the new film For When You Get Lost, which is coming to VOD on November 15 and is available for preorder now.Â
When June (Jennifer Sorenson) gets a call from her dad (Mark L. Taylor) asking her to come visit, she decides that this is when he is going to apologize for the issues they had when she was young. As a result of that assurance, she decides to go pick up her estranged sister, Cami (Elizabeth Alderfer), so that the two of them can reconnect and begin the process of mending their relationship as well. As the two travel, visiting various breweries along the path, June discovers that in order to heal some of the relationships in her life, she needs to look inside and see what she needs to do to fix herself.
The script was written by Sorenson and was based loosely on a road trip she took when her own father was dying. Together with Steffes, they developed something that is a truly remarkable bit of storytelling that will resonate with those who are interested in finding a way to create a path for connection with estranged family members and also in finding a way to connect with themselves on a deeper level.
The performances, especially between Sorenson and Alderfer, are lovely. The two create a real sense of sisters who are rediscovering one another after having not spoken in nearly a decade. The performance from Taylor as the father is also quite good, as we spend much of the film being told about his character but not actually interacting with him. He is able to ground Michael in a way that makes him relatable despite everything that we learn about him.
The production value of For When You Get Lost definitely belies its small budget. The sweeping shots of the Pacific Northwest are absolutely stunning, and the shots inside the car while the sisters are making the trip are wonderful. Also, due to the generosity of various breweries, the on-location portions of the movie are done masterfully.
There are a few areas where the story felt slightly rushed to me. I would have liked to have seen the relationship between the sisters and their half-sister Mikey (Aja Bair) fleshed out a little more, as the amount that we got with her felt wanting. But overall, the story is relatable, even if your situation differs from theirs.
For When You Get Lost reminds us that family relationships can be complicated and that there is the possibility of redemption if we make an effort to do the work. Sometimes, when we get lost, what we need to find our way back is just time.
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on November 9, 2024.
Check out my interviews with Michelle Steffes and Jennifer Sorenson below. Find pre-order information at For When You Get Lost.