‘Rachel Hendrix Review: Director Victor Nuñez Makes Welcome Return With Poignant Drama

© Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter

When he made his first feature film , Gal Young Un, in 1979, director Victor Núñez was pioneering the fledgling American independent film movement. In the decades that followed, Nunes continued to work on personal projects in his North Florida hometown. He has worked extensively with talented actors such as Ed Harris in Green Flash and launched Ashley Judd's acting career with Ruby in Paradise in 1993. Peter Fonda received his only Oscar nomination as an actor, playing the title role in Nunes' 1997 film The Golden Owl .

But Nunez hasn't made a film in over a decade. He returned to the screen with Rachel Hendricks and helped relaunch the acting career of Laurie Singer, best known for starring opposite Kevin Bacon in 1984's Unleashed . The singer, who is also an accomplished classical musician, has other notable acting roles. . uncredited in Alan Rudolph's Mind Problems and Robert Altman's Short Cuts , but he was absent from the screen for a long time. Singer and Nunes are thrilled to be working together on the touching, if not perfect, national drama, which made its world premiere at this year's Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

After the first screening of the festival, director Todd Field led a series of questions and answers. People who know Field as the writer and director of this year's Oscar-nominated Tarot may not remember that he has worked hard as an actor for many years and starred with Judd in Hack in Paradise 30 years ago. Field paid tribute to Nunez's sensitivity and generosity during their conversation after the new film.

The singer plays the main character, a writer and professor of creative writing at the University of Florida, who still hasn't recovered from the sudden death of her husband a year ago. In addition to exploring the impact of loss, this film is one of the few that looks at the impact of COVID on many people's lives. Some of Rachel's classes are still on Zoom. The epidemic changed his life in a different way. Although he communicates with his daughter who lives nearby, he has not seen his son, who has been living in California for two years. their only communication is by phone or laptop.

At the beginning of the film, Rachel returns to the beach house, where she has not been for a long time. It is here that she makes her first useful new connection after her husband's death. The neighbor who takes care of the house has a teenage daughter, Anne (Kim Sandwich), who agrees to clean for Rachel. This effort fails, but it turns out that Anne has read Rachel's acclaimed debut novel and is an aspiring writer herself. Rachel's developing relationship with this gifted but flawed young woman allows Rachel to enjoy the role of teacher she had less opportunity to play with her regular students during lockdown.

As with many of his previous films, Nunez makes excellent use of the Florida locations. Rachel's beach house and Tallahassee townhouse come to life. William Tanner Sampson's photographs are never striking, but always insightful. The cast is also top-notch, with a number of live actors who aren't household names but fit their roles.

Of course, much of the film hinges on the performance of Singer, who is on screen most of the time and airs as quietly as young Anne or her daughter (Kirsty Bryan) who is in trouble, including Rachel, who isn't quite capable. . ability to adjust. The singer easily holds the camera even in scenes of calm melancholy. There are no sour notes and unnecessary movements in this colorful portrait.

The only flaw the film has in common with some of Nunez's previous films is that it comes across as boring and overly indulgent at times, as if the director can't cut out a few repetitive scenes. As the film comes to its quiet yet rousing end, it looks like it will end a few more times before it actually ends. Two hours is too long for a modest heroine, and if one appreciates the artistic talent of the actress and the director, a more ruthless tone of editing would have given greater impact to this moving drama of regret and renewal. But viewers won't forget the sadness and wisdom of singer Rachel Hendrix.

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