With her first dramatic feature, writer-director Karen Chapman creates an emotional and authentic study of a single mother trying to hold herself together.

Jean is the provider and (over)protector of her two teen children, Tamika and Tristin, and begrudgingly lives with her mother in a crowded Lawrence Heights apartment complex. Despite the kids learning to become more self-sufficient, Jean’s vision is too clouded by the past to see that they're growing. She is haunted by violence in both their past and their present, and must help her children cope. Expertly using sound and flashbacks to construct a layered and full portrait of this woman's life, Chapman reveals the trials and tribulations that women in Jean’s family carry with them.

Olunike Adeliyi — familiar to Festival audiences from Tammy’s Always Dying (TIFF ’19), Akilla’s Escape (TIFF ’20), and Backspot (TIFF ’23) — gives a stand-out performance as Jean, bringing her formidable range to play a woman choosing to embrace joy for herself, first.

KELLY BOUTSALIS

Content advisory: mature themes