In the wake of John Wick: Chapter 4, is anybody ready for a kinder, gentler sort of movie? Oh. OK. Well, there are two such unanticipated films upon us anyway. One is an unabashedly teary family drama about grief and drug addiction; the other concerns the near-50-year struggle to legalize pinball machines in New York City. (The latter, Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game, was written and directed by Meredith and Austin Bragg, who both work for Reason.) In neither of these pictures—each of which has substantial merits—does anyone get shot in the face. So be forewarned.
The first movie announces its emotional atmosphere in its title: A Good Person. It was written and directed by Zach Braff—still fondly remembered for his 2004 hit Garden State (in which he also starred, with Natalie Portman). Here, remaining behind the camera, he directs the great Florence Pugh (his girlfriend at the time of filming) in a story about a young woman named Allison, who was badly injured in a car crash that killed her fiancé's sister and the sister's husband, and soon went spiraling into the blurry world of OxyContin addiction.
