Fantasia 2026: A Safe Distance Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

In 1967, director Arthur Penn changed film forever with the release of Bonnie and Clyde. In the context of the end of the Hays Code, a government norm censoring certain behaviors in cinema, the film is based on the true story of American outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. The graphic violence and the abrupt approach subverted commercial film and ignited the New Hollywood. Arguably, it even created its own genre; and films mimicking it. Canadian director Gloria Mercer, known primarily for short films, makes her feature debut with A Safe Distance, her sort of Parker classic.

The film tells the journey of Alex (Brown), a woman whose boyfriend takes her to the woods to propose. When things go south, Alex is alone in the forest until she finds Kianna (Mercedes) and Matt (Kearsley), who welcome her to stay in their camp. Suddenly, a chemistry, bordering on sexual, develops between the three. However, during a hike, Alex learns that the couple is wanted for their robberies. Promptly, she needs to decide whether to stay or go back to her life and failed relationship.

Watching Mercer’s debut feature, one can’t help but think of Penn’s film. Historically, it shifted the Hollywood approach to violence and sex, but its structure became quintessential to any work about a couple who commits crimes. At its core, A Safe Distance feels like a tragedy. Alex, who has a very comfortable life, loses it within the span of a night. Similarly, it is about the discomfort. Yet, Mercer’s jovial energy shifts its structure to a film about sexual dynamics and choice. Oftentimes, the woman finds herself in an intriguing position, sexually attracted to the couple, who engage her more than her now ex. In its best beats, Mercer plays with the moral provocations, the sudden jealousy of one of the parties in this makeshift threesome, and the faux-progressive reasoning behind the violence.

Still, the film feels similar to the 1967 quintessential work. The inevitability of the structure diminishes its overall impact, especially because of the trio of leads; Matt is the weak link. In his case, the reasoning for being a criminal, the rich upbringing, does not make him intriguing enough, nor does Kearsley’s performance. In a film that needs the three elements to work cohesively, one of them diminishes the drama and the sexual tension. Yet, going back to Bonnie and Clyde as a kind of subgenre, the best of those Wanda, the masterpiece by Barbara Loden. It works so well because it utilizes the structure to showcase the lead character’s misery. She is going through an odyssey, but returning home proves just as miserable.

In A Safe Distance, the dynamic between Alex and Kianna is reminiscent of the aforementioned Wanda, even if it fails to match the dramatic level as in Loden’s magnum opus. Director Gloria Mercer explores the necessity for two women to thrive in the world, and unite their desire to discover it. In this sense, when focusing on her female leads, she finds a fascinating dynamic that feels unsteady at times, but ultimately, showcases her as a name to look out for.

still courtesy of See Horse Films

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Pedro Lima

Brazilian film writer. He is also a producer and executive producer for Zariah Filmes. Member of the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA), International Documentary Association (IDA), and Gotham and Media Film Institute.