Harley Wallen’s “Fathers” arrives as one of this year’s biggest indie surprises. Wallen, who also wrote the script, unearths emotionally galvanized themes of trauma, recovery, and forgiveness. He uses a meager budget to his advantage, opting for limited locations and an intense focus on character over explosive action.
Natalie Dryden (Kaiti Wallen) escapes from her captor of many years and finds herself struggling to cope with everyday life. In an early scene, we meet Natalie during a press conference, and countless reporters attend with cameras raised, filming her first appearance in public since being kidnapped as a child. It’s a troubling scene that sees Harley exploring our collective insensitivity to trauma victims and obsession with true crime.
Harley pieces together fragments of the day of Natalie’s abduction. While riding her bike in the neighborhood, a mysterious man, who we come to learn is Bobby Nash (Harley Wallen), approaches her and claims to be lost. He lures her to his truck, pulls out his map, and then snatches her away. She’s never seen again. Throughout the film, Harley mixes in scenes after the kidnapping and offers up a polarizing perspective about what’s actually happening.
During Natalie’s many therapy sessions, her therapist Bridget Porter (Leslie Mechigian) tries hypnotherapy to help Natalie excavate suppressed memories. But most of what Natalie remembers is running through the woods on the day of her escape. Very little else comes back to her. Kaiti delivers a complex and powerful performance, digging into the layers that feed into Natalie’s inner tug-of-war.
Natalie’s father Calvin (Jerry Hayes) extends a compassionate hand, understanding the time and space she will need to recover. Their relationship is tenuous, at best, with Natalie keeping her distance as she copes with new surroundings. Calvin even stays elsewhere, allowing her to spend her recovery in his house, equipped with plenty of cameras for good measure. As her therapy progresses, Natalie senses that something sinister is going on, but she can’t quite see the picture clearly.
Harley Wallen makes the audience question the validity of Natalie’s perspective, fully leaning into the unreliable narrative structure. It’s a tangled mystery, and we, as the viewer, fight to figure out the puzzle alongside her. In working with cinematographers Deon Hunt, who also stars as Detective Parker, and Joseph Quick, Harley gives the film a polished veneer, when necessary, and a hypnotic, almost dream-like, state for flashbacks. Such visual cues not only give indicators to the audience about the timeline, but they also underscore Natalie’s emotional journey.
Low-budget thriller “Fathers” concisely captures the brutal truth about child abduction and the very long process of grieving lost time and learning how to live again. With Kaiti giving a strong lead performance, Harley Wallen turns every creative key to make you feel her pain. In the streaming age of endless possibilities, “Fathers” stands out from the pack with a tremendous amount of heart. And that counts for something.
“Fathers” drops on digital platforms June 2.
