Two nuanced, likable lead performances lift this familiar-feeling festival indie. In between jobs and uncertain which direction to go in, Manhattan consultant Amy (Restrepo) arrives in Jackson Hole with her fiancé for some R&R and to finally get down to planning their wedding. A fly fishing lesson with local off-the-grid wilderness guide Loren (DeBlasis) kicks off a week of just seeing where the day takes her. (Typically, it’s somewhere gobsmack-gorgeous; co-directors Steven Kanter and Henry Loevner, who also shot the film, capture the Wyoming landscape crisply, matter of factly.)
You can see why Amy sparks to Loren: She feels lost, and he has emphatically opted out of any traditional path. Restrepo and DeBlasis have an easy chemistry and don’t oversell the moments when that chemistry turns more charged. The same applies to Peak Season at large: Mostly absent of any capital-D drama, it authentically nails the drift of days that can turn into years of sameness. There are also insights here into people on vacation – how you start to dream about Vacation You becoming Permanent You, and surely that’ll fix all your problems – as well as how those people on vacation making it permanent can really ruin a place. Just because the jokes about micro-dosing, Crossfit- and social media-obsessive city folk are a little obvious doesn’t mean they won’t resonate with any townie aching for the before-days.
This article appears in August 2 • 2024.
