Katie Says Goodbye (2016)

Directed by: Wayne Roberts | 87 minutes | drama | Actors: Olivia Cooke, Mary Steenburgen, Mireille Enos, Keir Gilchrist, Christopher Abbott, Jim Belushi, Chris Lowell, Nate Corddry, Natasha Bassett, Gene Jones, Bernardo Saracino, Alex Breaux, Morse Bicknell, Mike Miller, Eric Steinig, Sage Bell

Katie Says Goodbye is about 17-year-old American Katie. Katie is the only child of a mother who she can’t really count on, either for love and education, or for financial support. Katie and mom Tracey live in a trailer park in an Arizona village, where the sandy expanses simultaneously create a dreamy atmosphere and a sense of desolation in every pore of your skin. Katie dreams of a new life, preferably somewhere in San Francisco, where she wants to become a beautician. But for now, she’s still trapped in her job as a waitress at a modest roadside diner owned by the sweet, affectionate Maybelle, who can almost be called Katie’s surrogate mother. Because her income at Maybelle’s Diner is not enough to pay the rent and save, Katie earns as a prostitute. Her clientele consists largely of well-meaning bastards, such as truck driver Bear, who invariably urges Katie to remain as sweet as she is now.

Because ‘Katie Says Goodbye’ is above all a character sketch of a good person down to the deepest fibers of her being. There is not an ounce of evil in young Katie and her cheerful disposition works like a bright spring sun on those around her. When she meets the grumpy auto mechanic Bruno (“do you smile a lot?” she asks him on their first date and she’s happy with the answer), she easily gets through to him and they quickly develop an endearing relationship. The way Katie’s eyes light up when she sees Bruno makes you long for the period when you yourself experienced a tender love.

But of course that much goodness makes for a boring movie, so there are several people around the enamored young woman who don’t exactly want the best for her. And it’s wonderful to see how Katie is dealing with that. Nowhere does the film portray her as naive or stupid, let alone as a victim – although there is every reason for the latter. Katie just once made a conscious choice about her life and that is admirable. ‘Katie Says Goodbye’ makes you immediately want a friend like Katie in your life and saying goodbye can’t be described in any other way as difficult, because you actually want to stay much longer in this setting with this character.

Katie Says Goodbye is the first feature film by 1983-born Wayne Roberts. Roberts is cleverly averse to clichés and shows in breathtaking landscape shots an America that feels as if time has stood still there, where dreams are shattered, but warmth and friendship give hope. For this dream debut, he gathered a diverse ensemble of actors around him, from Hollywood veterans Mary Steenburgen and Jim Belushi to the not yet completely broken through, but no less talented young actors such as Olivia Cooke, Chris Lowell and Christopher Abbott. Olivia Cooke in particular, who can be seen almost in every scene, jumps off the screen. She effortlessly penetrates the core of the character and makes it virtually impossible to take your eyes off her. Beautiful, sensitive portrait of a young woman whose presence in life you would grant anyone.