Vail Film Festival

In a commanding performance, Taryn Manning (Orange Is The New Black) plays Gloria, an Evanston mother wrestling with bipolar disorder and an imminent empty nest. Her dedicated daughter Beth (Madison Davenport) has a bright future ahead, but must decide if she will stay near home to care for her unpredictable mom or follow her own path. Emotionally raw and uncommonly observant, this coming-of-age drama balances the pull of family obligation against personal aspirations. Davenport beautifully conveys the mixture of fierce love and grueling weariness she feels while embracing her role as caregiver, a responsibility that threatens to consume the entirety of her life. And Manning is equally impressive in avoiding any trace of caricature in her portrayal of mental illness, preserving Gloria’s dignity even as her behavior becomes more erratic. Director Valerie Weiss (Losing Control) has found an ideal collaboration in screenwriter Moira McMahon Leeper, making her feature debut. By turns endearing, unsettling, and ultimately moving, A Light Beneath Their Feet is a triumph of empathetic filmmaking. There are no heroes and villains in this story, just ordinary people struggling to create a sense of normalcy in their day-to-day existence.
Runtime: 90m
Director: Valerie Weiss
Writer: Moira McMahon Leeper
Producer(s): Jeffrey Loeb & Robert Johnson
Cast: Taryn Manning, Madison Davenport, Maddie Hasson, Kurt Fuller, Carter Jenkins, Kali Hawk, Nora Dunn