Stephanie Allynne teams up with Tig Notaro on comedy-drama Am I OK? written by Lauren Pomerantz. A tender story of friendship and acceptance that is surrounded by two flourishing performances from its leads. Am I OK? also tackles an evergreen topic with a duty of care that could only really come from the voices that have told this story.
Written by Alex Gilston
You could probably count on two hands the amount of well known films that explore coming out well, Love Simon for example, or more recently the Kirsten Stewart holiday film Happiest Season. Further to that you could probably count on one hand the amount of those stories that were told by queer voices. Am I OK? is a double hander to that as it follows best friends Lucy (Dakota Johnson) and Jane (Sonoya Mizuno) who are both reliant on each other. On a drunken night out Jane reveals she’s moving to London for work reasons in return Lucy reveals that she believe she’s gay. As Jane tries to help Lucy their friendship takes a turn for the worse. Am I OK? is connected and grounded to the queer experience, and it just goes to show the importance of having the right representation behind the camera to be able to tell this kind of story as authentically as possible.
Dakota Johnson proves to be a festival favourite as she serves up her second Sundance film in as many days. Sonoya Mizuno is incredibly charming as best friend Jane, there is an honesty to her portrayal of someone trying to be an ally to Lucy as she traverses the challenges that come with trying to accept who you are and it's made all the more realistic by the chemistry that they both share in droves.
Coming out is still such a taboo topic in society, treated as this massive life defining moment when in reality it’s just you being honest with who you are. But when a film like Am I OK? comes around it acts as support for anyone out there who is potentially struggling with their sexuality and most importantly telling the people around them they care about the most, and if it helps even one person in that endeavor then it has succeeded in its job. Am I OK? shows how freeing coming out can be, whether it's to one or ten people, but only on the terms that is best for the individual. Above everything though it highlights the importance of friendship.
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