By Romey Norton - February 10, 2025
Director Derek Shane Garcia brings the thought-provoking and emotional independent feature film A/way. The story follows travel journalist Anna (Rosie McDonald) who is sent on an assignment to Martinique, which causes her to reflect on her unsettled life.
Blending the documentary filming style with traditional storytelling, A/way tells multiple stories through Anna profiling people in Martinique. All these are played by non-actors giving the film a fresh realism. Dealing with grief, on this journey Anna is questioning and deepening her understanding of her past, present and future.
The film begins with some lovely shots of Anna in the jungle, swimming close to a waterfall, and the voice-over in the background is her having a conversation with her manager who is overruling and shutting down her ideas. It’s a great contrast and a clever way to quickly see the two sides to someone's life.
The documentary style blended with narrative is an interesting choice and for the most part, it works. The documentary style interviews feel so real and raw that you forget Anna isn’t a real person and is a character. It poses an interesting idea on the position of a presenter/journalist and the part they play in documentaries. However, there are times where the pace and story can feel disjointed - but in a way this could reflect Anna and how she feels about her life.
Anna’s character is easily likeable and a character you can relate to. She is independent, but complicated and messy, and then kind so you really root for her. McDonald gives a strong performance, and has beautiful moments of vulnerability. How the character is written is very real, and will speak to many viewers who are going through similar situations. There’s some arty shots which represent Anna’s emotions, which are interesting but I don’t think they added anything to the story. Her acting is strong enough without having colourfully lit shots of her outside.
The ending is sweet, wholesome and should fill you with hope. Hope that everything will be okay, that you can start again, start over, continue, and sometimes the darkest and worst things that happen to you, can turn into something beautiful.
With themes of grief, love, loss, personal growth, A/way offers its viewers an insight into a woman trying to carry on her normal life without her mother. At one hour long, the film doesn’t drag or force anything, it tells its story in the time it needs to. A/way is interesting, thought-provoking and a cathartic watch. For an independent film, it packs a powerful punch.
A/way had its world premiere in 2024 at the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival in New York, and took home three awards. The film is still on its festival run, with its next appearance being at the Ocean City Film Festival, Maryland, USA on March 6-9.
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