When you’re hiking through nature, you miss a lot if you’re not paying attention. The same holds true when you’re viewing Good One, the story of a teenage girl’s hike through the Adirondacks with her dad and his best friend.

Seen mostly through the eyes of 17-year-old Sam (Lily Collias), the flick is full of telling moments, but few of them hit you over the head. Instead, writer/director India Donaldson expects you to watch and listen for clues about what Sam is going through.

Fortunately, Collias’s face registers the girl’s most fleeting thoughts, and cinematographer Wilson Cameron’s lens is right there to capture them.  

Taking place over three days, the film follows along as Sam goes on what seems to be a family tradition: an extended hike with her dad, Chris (James Le Gros). They were supposed to be accompanied by both Chris’s friend Matt (Danny McCarthy) and his teenage son, but the son bails out following a last-minute family argument.

This leaves Sam alone with two divorced, middle-aged men whose egos and life experiences sometimes make them difficult traveling companions.

They not only trade insults with each other, but they force her into a second-class status by, for example, relegating her to the back seat in the car or the floor in their shared hotel room. They also rely on her to take the lead on such stereotypically female tasks as cooking and cleaning.

Sam’s hiking companions are her father, Chris (James Le Gros, right), and his friend Matt (Danny McCarthy).

Sexual roles and outright sexism are understated themes here, but they’re not the only ones. An uncomfortable incident far into the journey forces Sam to question whether she can count on her father to be in her corner, or even to recognize what her corner is. It’s a sad, life-changing moment that filmmaker Donaldson delivers with her usual restraint.

Though the film is only 90 minutes long, its leisurely tempo might test some viewers’ patience. On the other hand, the pace allows us to enjoy the pristine Adirondak scenery, which is complemented by composer Celia Hollander’s evocative score.

More importantly, it allows us to appreciate Le Gros and McCarthy’s portrayals of two flawed but vulnerably human men, along with Collias’s portrayal of a young woman who is still on the cusp of adulthood and yet more mature than either of them.

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Good One (rated R) can be seen in select markets and expands to theaters nationwide on Aug. 23.

This article first appeared here on Reel Time with Richard Ades.