NO FUTURE

After the tragic overdose of his estranged friend, Will, a recovering addict, returns home, where he is reunited with Claire, his friend’s grieving mother, with whom he begins a secret but volatile affair.

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Grief is an unpredictable monster. It manifests in ways we will understand. In the new film No Future, writer-directors Andrew Irvine and Mark Smoot give us a study of human emotions. It is a film that will hit home for many families. Addiction and its wake of destruction is something we cannot seem to escape. No Future boasts brilliant performance and a ceaselessly engrossing screenplay. It is quietly devastating.

Catherine Keener is a mother mired in grief. As Claire, she looks for answers in Will, the only remaining connection to her son. The stages are all present in her weary tone of voice and mannerisms. The justifiable anger and emptiness become a shared experience through her. Charlie Heaton, as Will, sits on the fence of morality as a former addict wracked with survivor’s guilt. He carries the burden of past transgressions in his daily struggle to stay clean. Knowing that he’s hiding the truth from Claire eats at his soul. Heaton’s vulnerability will say shake you to your core. It’s award-worthy.

Keener and Heaton’s chemistry is palpable. Their connection lands somewhere in between conceivable and inappropriate. They are using one another to process hurt. No Future speaks to the daily challenges and ripple effects of addiction. Jon Natchez‘s score of heavy strings and synth adds an unsettling hum to the entire film. It’s beautifully powerful. The script does not tread lightly, and rightfully so. The explosive and inevitable final act is a catharsis for our leads and the audience. Or so we’re led to believe. Everyone must sit in contemplative mourning. No Future will break your heart.

NO FUTURE opens nationwide on Friday, October 22nd, 2021.

NO FUTURE is written and directed by Andrew Irvine and Mark Smoot and stars Catherine Keener, Charlie Heaton, Rosa Salazar, Jackie Earle Haley, Jefferson White, Austin Amelio, Heather Kafka, Jason Douglas, Kia Nicole Boyer, Mollie Milligan, Jasmine Shanise, and Marissa Woolf.