No Light and No Land Anywhere
Director: Amber Sealey
Writer: Amber Sealey
Cast: Gemma Brockis, Jennifer Lafleur, David Sullivan, Kent Osborne, Jade Sealey, Richard Sealey, Deborah Dopp
Seen on: 27.4.2021

Plot:
Lexi (Gemma Brockis) has left London in a hurry. After her mother’s death and with her marriage crumbling, she decided to go to Los Angeles to find her father. He left her mother and her when Lexi was just three years old and she hasn’t seen him since. But there are a couple of breadcrumbs that she can follow. She rents a room in a seedy motel and starts the search.

No Light and No Land Anywhere isn’t always easy to watch but that’s just because it is so effective in transporting Lexi’s emotions. So, even if it isn’t easy, it’s certainly worth to work for it.

No Light and No Land Anywhere hinges on Gemma Brockis. She has the difficult task of letting Lexi unravel – but not too much. Because Lexi fights tooth and nail to not fall completely apart, despite everything. To find a place where she belongs, to not give hope that there is a place where she can belong.

Fortunately Brockis is up to the task, giving Lexi both the necessary vulnerability and strength to pull this difficult role off. She really is magnetic, though her raw performance is part of what makes the film difficult to watch at times – it’s just not nice to watch a person in pain always getting this close to outright self-destructive behavior.

The scene where Lexi finally meets her father will certainly stay in my head for a long while yet. What a harrowing moment, excellently captured by Sealey (and Brockis). It’s excruciating to watch this encounter that is pretty much the worst thing that could happen to a child looking for their parent. Definitely made me want to hug my own parents.

Fortunately, the film doesn’t end on this painful note, but on a conciliatory one. Sometimes parents are assholes, sometimes they are just gone. But fortunately, parents aren’t the only family you can have and even if your parents suck, you can find a place to belong. And after everything that Lexi went through (and we with her), that is a really good ending.

Summarizing: Very good.