The film tells a story of two friends Anna & Beth who decide to have a weekend trip because they want to heal their rift which was broken by competition & jealousy. However, surprise events occur suddenly which lead to unexpected consequences.
FitzGerald and Davis are both excellent, convincingly turning the smallest, most seemingly harmless discussions into highly charged cat-and-mouse workouts.
[Takal has] created two characters with distinctly different approaches to femininity, but these are hard to separate from the women's habitual self-regard.
What's most gratifying is Levine and Sakal's ability to satisfyingly weave criticisms of the way Hollywood treats women into this tale of deteriorating female friendship.
"Always Shine" is a deft, assured movie with a sly self-reflexive undercurrent containing commentary on sexism and self-idealization that's provocative, and sometimes disturbing.
As the fog closes in, so too does the foreboding, expertly tuned to fraught dissonance by director Sophia Takal, who blends art-house flourishes with such horror conventions as the spotty cellphone reception that signals trouble.
