Unspoken longings charge the atmosphere of a chilly beach getaway in the elegantly titled “Waiting for the Light to Change,” directed by Linh Tran. The film, which won the Grand Jury prize at the Slamdance Film Festival this year (a Sundance alternative showcasing microbudget works), observes a group of 20-somethings as they lounge about a lakeside cabin during a weeklong vacation in Michigan.
The story hews closest to Amy (Jin Park) as she reconnects with her best friend Kim (Joyce Ha) after some time apart. Complicating their reunion are Amy’s lingering feelings for Kim’s boyfriend, Jay (Sam Straley), and Amy’s recent dramatic weight loss. During the trip, spliff-smoking breaks and strolls through the dunes offer some variation amid the interminable idling, which seems to take the same sluggish forms no matter whether they are drunk, high or hung over.
There are traces of films by Eric Rohmer and Hong Sang-soo in this lonely and sometimes drowsy drama, which unfolds almost entirely in a series of static long takes. In her feature debut, Tran is intermittently successful at capturing the listlessness that defines that liminal space between adolescence and adulthood; as “Waiting” progresses, malaise envelops her characters like the gray fog over the shoreline. Since the dialogue can feel stilted, the film’s best scenes are nearly wordless: silent surveys of the wreckage of things unsaid.
Waiting for the Light to Change
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes. Rent or buy on most major platforms.
Natalia Winkelman
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