anywhere
Why we love it ❤️
A girl staring down a blank page that could decide her entire future is such a specific kind of anxiety and this film gets it exactly right. Lizzy feels like every overthinking teenage girl who has ever sat with a laptop at 1am rewriting the same paragraph for the tenth time. The early 2000s setting adds this quiet nostalgic layer, dial up internet, landlines, the specific loneliness of being a teenager before everyone had a phone glued to their hand. It is a small, quiet film but it says so much about the pressure of being told this one essay determines your whole life. If you remember what it felt like to have your future hinge on one piece of paper, this is going to sit with you.
What is anywhere about?
anywhere is set in early 2000s rural America and is about Lizzy (Adrionna Petty), a high school senior trying to finish a scholarship essay that could determine the next four years of her life. As the deadline closes in, Lizzy spends time with Henry (Connor Hayden) and her mother Lynette (Katie Clough) while working through what she actually wants to say. Jessie Ellis plays Miss Cartwright, a teacher who plays a role in Lizzy's process. The film takes place over a short window of time as Lizzy sits with big questions about her future. Director Joe Garcia sets the story in the quiet, in between moments of small town teenage life.
