The Get together

For his second film, The get together, after Believe me (2014), Will Bakke gives us the portrait of a young American woman who is well-off but who is losing her moral compass. By placing most of the action of his new dramatic comedy in an evening in Austin, The get together brings together a young college graduate, a couple soon to be engaged and a failed musician in particular, and confronts them with the reality of their childhood and their shattered dreams.

Having a single set can prove to be a way to highlight crisp dialogues or successful action scenes, but most of all, as in this case, it can be a vitriolic portrait of today's America and show that the new generation, watered down by new technologies and social networks, seems to have lost some of its innocence and is constrained by deceptive appearances, the search for various conquests, celebrities and a very well paid job, if not totally exciting.

The get together, although it is not totally exciting and original, benefits from many qualities, starting with its cast of young actors and actresses such as Johanna Braddy, Courtney Parchman, Alejandro Rose-Garcia, Jacob Artist and Stéphanie Hunt. Each one of their characters faces a challenge to take up the time of this evening that will change them forever and make them grow into adulthood, that of the responsibilities to bear and when some friendships come to an end. What the film gains by the presence of an interesting cast, it loses by a rather disjointed rhythm, the absence of a real ending and the impression of seeing here a short film that is overinflated to make it a movie.

The Get together
Directed by Will Bakke
Produced by Will Bakke, Jon Michael Simpson, Chad Werner
Written by Will Bakke, Michael B. Allen
Starring Alejandro Rose-Garcia, Johanna Braddy, Jacob Artist, Ellar Coltrane, Bill Wise, Stephanie Hunt, Courtney Parchman, Chad Werner, Katelyn Marie Marshall, Brady Burleson Johnson, Preston Flagg, Luxy Banner, Kenah Benefield
Cinematography : Joe Simon
Running time: 73 minutes

Seen on October 26, 2020 (online access Austin Film Festival)

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