See original review on One Film Fan
First, the Recap:
The power to function. While there may be so many varying situations that this might be applied to, it would seem safe to say that our individual capabilities and the means by which we find ourselves utilizing them each day would be at the forefront. As people, we are richly blessed to have the wide ranging scope of what we can accomplish…physically and mentally…that aid in everything we desire to strive for and, ideally, accomplish. However, what if someone was experiencing daily life with these elements….only in a more muted manner?
In a Florida home, during an especially hot season, a 38-year old Korean adoptee named Anna (Anna Sargent) makes every effort to exist with the cognitive disabilities that she has. With her sister Emily (Jeena Yi) working in NYC, Anna’s restricted means while trying to take care of her aging mother (Joan Sargent) takes a sudden and unforeseen turn. Even once Emily is back home, the estranged pair find themselves at odds, one watching life become more complicated than planned, while the other simply wishes to maintain and create a world SHE can recognize and thrive in.
Next, my Mind:
There is a sad fact in this upended world that is highly difficult, or SHOULD BE such, to swallow….the misconceptions and, sadly, maltreatment of those who have the unfortunate reality of disabilities to cope and survive with. While life moves forward via what most of us consider “routine”, there are those whose comprehension of, and capacity to carry out, some basic resemblance of life is challenged to utterly crippling degrees. YET, carry forward they do, with an intelligence, fortitude, grace, and unwavering amount of intent that honestly belies what ailments, mental or physical, are trying to (granted sometimes successfully) hold them back from experiencing everything to the maximum amount of personal and grander scope of daily existence. In spite of it, they are HUMAN BEINGS, worthy of just as much love, compassion, care, and understanding any of us are, REGARDLESS of those elements that set them apart from “normalcy”.
These concepts form what this critic feels is the underlying narrative approach that then gets expanded upon, manifesting an amazingly engaging, affecting, and wholly necessary exploration that emphasizes that latter statement above in spades while also becoming an endearing tale of personal and familial healing that hits you with unrelenting force and soul-moving impact. The 15-minute short film from writer/director/producer Liz Sargent, producer/cinematographer Minos Papas, plus executive producers Virginia Millhiser, Timothy Millhiser, June & Harlen Boya, Jane Shin Park, and Cindy Y. Huang carries itself with enough contained power to stand on its own. However, the beauty of what we see here is enhanced further by the fact it is but a proof of concept project that is leading to the 2026 Sundance Film Festival debut of the feature film version, which is something truly exciting to anticipate given what the short has established.
Following a chaotic turn of events that leaves estranged sisters, one of whom pushes to maintain a grip on the full realities and layers of their situation while struggling with a cognitive disability, fighting a now fundamentally altered, uncertain way forward AND their own fractured relationship, the narrative firmly and with unequivocal potency sweeps you into their respective state of beings and mindsets in addition to so proficiently illustrating the equally imperative notion of exactly what perspective someone with Anna’s condition handles it all. Also, given it truly is a vivid dichotomy IN outlook and perceptions that we witness between the two siblings due to Anna’s disability, much less from the angle of her being an adopted member of said family as well, the portrait of how this collides and explodes is a palpable and emotively intense experience here. Of course, the means by which disability is revealed and examined is simply excellence in execution.
Things get elevated even more when the sheer magnitude of Anna’s insistence and dogged determination to establish herself AS the smart, capable individual she is, plus the life she desires to lead even in the face of others who don’t initially respect or believe her ability to be self-sustaining, is so powerful and undeniably inspirational, too. How this then brings about the film’s heartstring-tugging, tear-inducing finale serves to make us as the viewer begin trying to ascertain just how much MORE captivating and emotionally-charged the FEATURE length film will be when this proof of concept is so definitively absorbing on its own. We have until 01/26/26 at 3pm In Person in Park City (with additional in person screenings on 01/27/26 1:10pm Park City, 01/28/26 6:30pm Salt Lake City, 01/30/26 4:40pm Park City, and 02/01/26 9:30am Park City PLUS Online 01/29/26-02/02/26–all times are on MST) to find out! Should VERY MUCH be worth the wait to view!
Sargent is just such a potent force here, delivering a performance that is as filled with high-energy and emotive strength as it is understated and endearing through her role as Anna, a 30-something Korean adoptee who is having to encounter a disheartening loss and the subsequent upheaval it creates as she endeavors to manifest a life path in the aftermath of it. Also handling the return of her estranged sister, Anna’s cognitive disability causes her perspectives on things to be both innocently but conspicuously skewed as well as overtly passionate to establish her self-identity and means to take care of herself, even when the latter seems questionable in her sibling’s mind and now-recent experiences. But, even as the volatility between the two women appears to be nothing but unresolvable, what ends up transpiring will alter their individual and mutually shared feelings towards life, sisterhood, and the acknowledgment of those who battle mental conditions being precisely who they are….HUMAN, capable, and smart.
Sargent’s manner in which she demonstrates her character’s qualities and challenges is truly inspirational, and it is a performance that is already worth praise in this proof of concept, leaving one to only imagine how much more of her amazingness we will get to witness in the upcoming feature film version. Yi likewise turns in a performance worth noting, providing a portrait of someone who clearly has had desires to be on her own as life moves forward, yet finds herself having to confront the unanticipated and hence an abrupt alternation to her plans. Given her no-nonsense, yet somewhat impatient demeanor which surfaces once she attempts to sort things out at home with Anna, it isn’t immediately clear whether the situation she’s now having to deal with is one she can withstand or truly manage. Yet, it IS the tension she first has with Anna that leads to something she possibly never saw coming either, and it makes the beauty of what DOES occur all the more powerful. Yi is absolutely believable here and is a total credit to her acting talents, even though my understanding is that she is NOT returning in the feature film.
Read the rest of the review on One Film Fan
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