It is usually this summer following graduation from college that most students get to taste their first glimpse of the unknown. The move away from college life unlike the shift from high school to higher education is similar to finally removing training wheels off a bicycle. You have no more built-in supports such as communal housing. Chestnut pre-scheduled calendars or the convenience of moving with people you always see around; instead, you are burdened with your own autonomy which can be quite too much sometimes.
“Chestnut” by director Jac Cron is his first feature film and it is an adolescent drama built on the heaviness of an uncertain future combined with young drunken nights that are fuzzy when they come back into mind.
In “Chestnut”, Natalia Dyer – actor from “Stranger Things” plays Annie who graduated in finance recently and has dreams to write but remains in her small home town near Philadelphia waiting for her job offer in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, she does not start packing up until late. There is something leaving behind as well as preparing all other things before relocating across America that makes her act so hesitantly.
The summer twilight was creeping outside quietly while a lonely woman was drinking at a bar; she had been feeling dejected lately due to some dramatic turn of events. Annie meets Tyler and Danny, two friends whose relationship becomes unclear right through except their obvious codependent connection. Tyler (Rachel Keller from FX’s “Fargo”) remains elusive yet charming Annie while confusing her at the same time; whereas Danny (Danny Ramirez in “Top Gun: Maverick”), being less talkative among them both seems satisfied watching flirtations between Annie and Tyler far away.
She falls head over heels for Tyler right from the first sight and begins hanging out with him and Danny spending lots of late evenings together either boozing after work till dawn or going out to hear poets recite in dimly lit neighborhood bars. I’m not answering former best friend from college Jason’s (Chella Man) calls or anything else, choosing instead to go along with Tyler in a whirlwind of emotions that allows me to enter into another life – with the understanding that I will have to decide by summer’s end.
“Chestnut” is portrayed through neon bar signs and the bright light of the morning after, creating an atmosphere that fills Annie’s world leaving room for emotional shifts among its characters as well as helping to shape its narrative and visual form. The camera-work here is however unobtrusive yet fluid in terms of movement watching how these conversations unfold without any words being said. One gets lost in the action here; we’re simply voyeurs behind heavy eyelids waiting for sleep at this point.
This is a sexually energized love triangle that is as fascinating as it is unclear in terms of boundaries and definitions. It’s not only fueled by late nights out but also by the inhibition one has towards emotional transparency which our more vulnerable and younger selves often weaponize.
Annie wants Tyler to love her so much, though he gets them very easily, almost too fast, thus leaving what follows their meetings with many unanswered questions and little else. While Danny first seems like someone who can talk about anything other than the moment. Tyler quickly endears herself to viewers with her high energy personality and impulsive tendencies.
Annie’s charge here is not to pick between Tyler or Danny but rather to know that both will leave her wanting more of them in their own way.
“Chestnut” is concise in duration and offers up a gently poetic picture of youth poised on the edge of an unknown future. The narrative work here was done subtly—a gesture, eye contact, a small exhale of breath fill its affective content almost entirely broken momentarily by long pent-up bursts of frustration, anger and sadness.
This movie has a sense of déjà vu for better or worse; its coming-of-age tale is nondescript and non-specific too. Instead it displays its inner worlds totally humanly with the result being a close examination of youthful banalities that are filled with meaninglessness when lived through.
Also, Read On Fmovies