Movie Review: 'Clementine' is Challenging and Heartfelt Human Drama

Clementine stars Otmara Marrero as Karen, a heartbroken young woman in the throes of a dramatic and recent break-up. In her grief over the end of this relationship, with a much older woman, Karen first tries to steal back her dog from her ex’s home in Los Angeles. Failing that, Karen gets in her car and drives non-stop into the Pacific Northwest. In some unnamed corner of the country, Karen’s ex has a cabin in the woods.

Karen breaks in and for the next several days she plans on simply staying in the cabin, swimming and brooding over her broken heart. Interrupting her wallowing is Lana (Sydney Sweeney). Lana is using the dock outside the cabin as a respite from wherever it is she’s lied about being from. Lana is mischievous, much younger than Karen and is eager to play games, something Karen is up for as a distraction from her pain.

Karen and Lana’s relationship is complicated. Karen is wounded and guarded, Lana is innocent and searching. If Karen realizes that Lana is gay, it doesn’t register with her. Lana claims to be 19 and her boldness and self-possession seems to to back that up. But, her moments of naivete and girlish laughter leave enough doubt to make Lana dangerous. Karen is appropriately careful of Lana but there is no question of attraction.

Further disrupting the dynamics of this situation is Beau (Will Brittain), a handyman hired by D (Sonya Walger), Karen’s ex, to watch over Karen. D is worried that Karen may be suicidal and she has Beau check on her while doing chores around the cabin. Beau, like Karen, is drawn to Lana who loves the attention, which only serves to ratchet up the intense feelings, mistrust, jealousy and awkwardness.

I will abandon the plot description now as you have enough of the set-up to get a good feel for what you are in for with Clementine. Clementine is a reference to the mini-oranges popular among young children. Lana makes a reference to a Clementine orange with a bit of dialogue that takes on a certain significance as the third act plays out. It’s a very modern reference in our culture of Me Too but you have to be paying close attention to catch it.

Clementine writer-director Lara Gallagher toys with notions of the Me Too movement and #BelieveWomen. She’s not mocking any of that, she’s merely exploiting the concept for tension and drama within this unique story. This is a story about sex and psychology, depression and loneliness, and the power dynamic in relationships between people of different ages. Karen’s infatuation with Lana reflects her relationship with D, a much older woman.

It’s not hard to see that Karen sees herself in Lana and perhaps has designs on trying out what it would be like to be D in a relationship, the older, more experienced and confident part of a couple. For her part, Lana is at a point in life where she is pushing the boundaries of growing up. She’s figuring out where her interests lie and she’s drawn to Karen as someone who can show her an aspect of life that she hasn’t experienced yet.

Neither approach is completely healthy but it’s handled in a manner that is at times hard to watch. Thankfully, the skillful writing and Otmara Marrera’s deft performance carry over the darker portions of the story. Clementine pushes boundaries and goes places that confront our preconceived notions. It’s a very reasonable confrontation however, one where everyone can feel invited into the conversation, as awkward as it may get during the course of the story.

Clementine is immersive, dramatic, thought provoking and challenging. Writer-director Lara Gallagher goes to some challenging places and doesn’t back away from uncomfortable topics. This isn’t done for shocks thankfully, the dramatic stakes are far more important than merely pushing the audience to uncomfortable extremes. Clementine is a shades of grey movie in a black and white world.

Clementine, from Oscilloscope Studios will debut in virtual cinemas on Friday, May 8th.