Chestnut
As with many college graduates, the post-graduation summer is a gradually fading liminal space, all too familiar that looks a comforting blanket, but one that is in every way an end. The last of those are no more felt the idealistic school and then to college, or post school where college life must be seen more as living without the safety wheels on a bicycle. It is not as if these supports just disappear no more shared accommodation, no shared timetables, and especially no option most times to move with your peers, rather, Initiative is thrust upon you and it is more often than not perplexing.
First of all, welcome to the sleepy part of Philadelphia’s Penn campus where new people and new things take time to advance through cultural sociology. Chestnut, Jac Cron’s feature length directorial debut, is a coming of age drama that exploits the burden of not knowing and compresses it into sunny tipsy summer nights which are eternal when looking back but are a tad fuzzy. Notably, the heroine of this episode is a poor present unpaid student Annie played by Natalia Dyer, who is stuck in Philly where she graduated from college with the degree in finance struggling to break into writing and the LA job that she has just gotten. Encouraged by her caring father, Annie however is not dealing with the jump into the unknown but gets apprehensive about settling into this new phase of life, she appears to be taking her time to pack her things, to clear the apartment and most importantly, to prepare for the coming move to a different side of the country.
While still drinking her beer, Annie gets picked up at the bar by another of the summer’s sad insidious progression Sansom, and Danny. Tyler, a Rachel Keller (FX’s Fargo) character, is truly charming in her mysteriousness and at the same time leaving Annie more bewildered than fascinated. At the same time, the quiet sycophant, Danny Ramirez (“Top Gun: Maverick”) appears to be happy to wait for the right time to see Annie and Tyler make out on the balcony as he currently has no desire to join them making out.
Sharing walls and jobs, although never articulated, the relationship between Tyler and Danny remains a mystery to Annie in all aspects except for the intertwining and outworldly dependency.
Tyler’s sure looked down at her to distract attention, but that was a success. Annie fell headfirst to Tyler and then very quickly into the friend circle of her and Danny. She was spending the last seasonal nights with them in all kinds of events ranging from romantic flame sconces in clubs to after work drinks that become sweaty parties. She constantly brushed off check ins from her friend Jason (Ochel Man) who had been her companion since college anyway but was more concerned about her fathers calls, Tyler was an intriguing rush of emotions for her, providing a kind of avenue where the young woman dreams of a different life, albeit under the pressure of making a choice at the end of the long vacation associated with the summer.
Nestled between bartender’s neon bar signs and the last lingers of the hangover, “Chestnut” expands Annie’s self into the cinematic world, coherently immersing in emotions of its characters and utilizing it as one of the narrative and visual principles. Here, the camera is stickless and exercises movement, which allows to see how the complex interactions of the character’s hardly expressed inner feelings unfold. It is such a moment that we feel we are in the moving picture along with the characters here, silently soaking up the action peeping from the heavy droopy eyes which desired to sleep.
Factually, it is a love triangle that is positively charged and most interesting in its depiction, even if it is vague in terms of the definitions and boundaries. It is not just about late night escapades, but also the scandals which arise from one’s refusal to be emotionally naked, which more vulnerable younger selves usually play as a foul. Annie is not just satisfied in being Tyler’s friend, although she wants those feelings, but they are almost very easily and quickly achieved, making it very troubling at the end with many unnecessary questions lingering in the dark more than answers. Tyler is quite charming with her active character and rash tendencies, whereas at first Danny seems to be more steady in his capacity to articulate what’s going on rather than in its immediate confines. For Annie the challenge here is not about picking Tyler or Danny, but understanding that both of them would leave her dissatisfied in one way or another.
Brevity considers highlights, ‘Chestnut’ gently depicts young characters experiencing the threshold of something new and for them, disquieting. This is a conceptual work exploring the narrative which is very complex it is gestural, it is glancing, it is breathing out the most of the emotional contents of it, which is filled only for short terms with overdue clusters of irritation, fury and grief. This is a film, which both good and bad has a very appealing conventionality because within its every coming of age tales, the perspective is neither praised as being particularly original nor vivid. Rather, it is completely realistic in its revelation of internal images, focusing on the outwards turbulence of young adult’s life and yet at the time of going through them, they seem anything but banal.
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