Directed by Zach Braff, A Good Person follows the story of Allison (Florence Pugh), a young woman with a wonderful fiance, a blossoming career, and supportive family and friends. However, her world crumbles in the blink of an eye when she survives an unimaginable tragedy, emerging from recovery with an opioid addiction and unresolved grief. In the following years, she forms an unlikely friendship with her would-be father-in-law, Daniel (Morgan Freeman), which gives her a fighting chance to put her life back together and move forward.
When it comes to life drama films it’s a genre that I have not always been into, but once in a while there comes a film from that genre that catches my interest and surprises me emotionally, usually because of the cast, as well as the premise they are involved in. In 2019 there was Marriage Story starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson. In 2022 there was The Whale starring Brendan Fraser. This year we have this film starring two of my favorite actors from two different generations: Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman. As soon as I saw both of them were in this film I was immediately on board with watching it as soon as possible. And I can happily say that this was yet another drama that I absolutely loved.
It really hit me hard emotionally and is likely to do the same for many who see it. It has a lot of raw heartbreaking emotion and it can be very melancholic yet it can also be very touching and uplifting. Zach Braff truly delivered a very beautiful film here that tackles a lot, yet is held together by his strong direction and even stronger performances that spearhead this film.
Florence Pugh is phenomenal as the character of Allison who is on a roller coaster journey of grief, addiction, and recovery that I was so invested in from start to finish. She portrays someone who is truly dealing with a lot mentally and physically carrying so much bottled-up guilt that’s led her down a messy rabbit hole that she’s desperately trying to get out of. Pugh delivers so much raw emotion with this character and you feel like you’re with her every step of the way, both with the best and worst moments of her road to healing. And if her performance wasn’t already enough, she also wrote and performed several songs in this film herself and they are absolutely amazing! She really got to show more of her talent with this film, proving that no matter what she is in she continues to be one of the best actresses of our current generation. Shen holds her own against one of my favorite actors of the past generation, Morgan Freeman.
It has been about a decade since I’ve seen Morgan Freeman on the big screen and I have to say that for me personally, this felt like the return of a king. He delivers a truly masterful performance as the character of Daniel, bringing such a warm and inviting presence every time he’s on screen. But what made this performance special compared to his previous work is that he isn’t playing the typical pure-of-heart mentor/guide that he’s known to be. He plays a character that has a lot of flaws to him and has made a lot of past mistakes that surface over the course of the film.
Like Allison he’s on a journey of recovery himself but one that has been ongoing even before the tragedy. He now deals with entirely different struggles that he can’t handle all by himself yet still manages to put time aside to help Allison become better no matter how difficult it might be. In return, Allison does help him with his own problems in unexpected ways and we see a very unique relationship develop between them.
Together they set out on a journey toward healing, comforted by the fact that they aren’t alone in their grief. It’s a truly remarkable pair-up of two wonderful actors from two different generations that work together perfectly in a film like this and makes me want to see more pair-ups like this going forward.
There are also a number of notable supporting performances that are really good, such as Chinaza Uche as Nathan and Celeste O’Connor as Ryan. Even though they play mostly supporting roles in this film they are also clearly impacted by the events that have occurred and play a major part in the lives of our two leads. They had a lot of stand-out scenes of their own where they really pulled off some emotional sequences so well that they definitely deserve recognition of their own.
Zach Braff did an amazing job directing and writing an honest and deeply emotional film that tackles grief, loss, and forgiveness in a very beautiful way. It feels like this was done by someone who has had personal experience, which is something Braff has admitted in some of his interviews, making this film feel a lot more realistic in certain areas. There have been a lot of films out there about substance abuse, recovery, and grief, but this one does stand out since it shows the nuances people experience on those grueling journeys.
I have found that other dramas tend to glance over some of these things, but this film isn’t afraid to show how long and exhausting the process of recovery can, be especially for multiple people on different sides of the tragedy. It’s no walk in the park for anyone and things in life will tend to come along to make the journey of healing difficult, whether it be relapsing or instinctive responses to a certain situation.
It’s all handled really well and it never felt overdramatic in any way except for one moment. There’s a particular scene that comes up involving a confrontation at a party that I feel was exaggerated due to the addition of one element that I felt was unnecessary. The scene is already emotionally amplified as is with what happens and it leads to a perfectly acted scene, but I just couldn’t help but feel this one small addition almost took me out of what was going on because it just seemed too extreme. But that was just only one thing that I felt was poorly chosen but the rest of it is handled really well.
I also really liked the ending since it takes a certain direction I didn’t expect and didn’t leave me on a sour note. I sometimes hate when certain dramas involving some of the themes end on a dark or bombastic note but this one didn’t do that. It is still a somewhat melancholic ending but one that is also hopeful and made me feel really good by the end of it.
The film is crafted wonderfully with some great cinematography and simple sets, not trying to over-stylize this kind of story, and making it feel as much in reality as possible. The score is beautiful all the way through but truly the most memorable parts are all the songs written and performed by Florence Pugh that amplified the emotional weight of this film.
I can see this film being hard to watch for some because of how emotional it can get and it may not be for everyone, which is completely understandable. But I still highly recommend watching it because it is truly a beautiful story that features two amazing performances that deserve serious recognition. And I have the feeling that there might be some people out there who may watch this film and see that no matter how bad things could get in the unpredictable journey of life we can find hope in places where we least expect it. I’m going to give A Good Person an A+ = 98.
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