Little Brother

Review from the Atlanta Film Festival: Sheridan O'Donnell's debut feature is a powerfully-heartfelt ride. What is most remarkable about the story of a young man driving his older brother back home after he attempted suicide is that it takes the time to address it's heavy topics with detailed sensitivity. Aside from all of that, it's also really funny--O'Donnell never lets the movie devolve into something laborious or dreary. Instead, he allows the two brothers to not merely be vessels for heavy-handed subject matter, but rather characters with their own rich interior lives. Anchored by a pair of incredible performances from leads Daniel Diemer and Phillip Ettinger, these brothers are characters you want to spend time with as an audience, never wanting their road trip to end.

So often films and filmmakers tackle difficult subject matter, saying they want to "start the conversation"... Little Brother is that conversation, in all of its heartache, messiness and beautiful humanity.