A SERIOUS FIRST FILM ABOUT TEEN SUICIDE
The first film from a young filmmaking couple, I Feel Fine is a teenage chronicle tackling the sensitive subject of mental disorders leading to irrepressible suicidal urges. A drama filmed with great tenderness, and carried by brilliant first-time actors.

In rural America, Ozzy lives a seemingly happy adolescence, between his outings with his buddies, his loving parents, and the new girl in high school who seems particularly fond of him. But he has dark thoughts. He stubbornly thinks about death. Ozzy even attempts suicide several times. No one around him understands. He himself can't explain it. For their first feature film, Austin and Hailey Spicer tackle a particularly sensitive subject: suicidal obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which leads to obsessive thoughts of suicide.

As well as being uplifting and moving, I Feel Fine is also a tender teenage chronicle set in an uncertain era, somewhere between the 1970s - given the look of the characters and their cars - and today (Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga are mentioned in passing). All of which lends the film a certain timelessness and melancholy flavor. It has to be said that the film was built on personal memories. The filmmakers' own adolescence, of course, but also the experiences of the actors, most of whom are first-timers - starting with Elijah Passmore, impressive in the lead role, all subtlety and tenderness, and making his first film appearance.

The tragic subject matter of I Feel Fine can be frightening at first. However, the filmmakers manage to avoid making a leaden film, while respecting their subject, so much so that the adolescent chronicle presented is soft and tender. We're reminded of the sequences between Ozzy and his girlfriend (the formidable Nandi Summers), those with his buddies, but also those with his older sister, played by the actor's real sister (Tori Passmore). This documentary aspect of the sibling relationship adds emotion to the film. If the sometimes overly theoretical nature of the script and a few clumsy directing errors prevent us from being totally overwhelmed, they are quickly made up for by the freshness of the young, unknown actors in this first film. Faces we hope to see again on the screens of American independent cinema.

I FEEL FINE BY AUSTIN AND HAILEY SPICER
RELEASED NOVEMBER 2024