Directed by Lauren Greenhall, the erotic thriller Perfectly Good Moment will have its world premiere at the 25th Sarasota Film Festival on March 29, 2023. This psychosexual thriller asks the question: what happens when the things that make your relationship passionate and exciting are the same things that make it toxic?
The film stars Broadway’s Stephen Carlile (The Lion King) in his cinematic debut and Amanda Jane Stern (1 Angry Black Man, Lifetime’s Amish Witches). It marks Stern’s first feature screenwriting credit from a story she co-wrote with producer Julian Seltzer (HBO’s DMX: Don’t Try to Understand, and House of Hammer for Discovery+). The film features an original score by Mdou Moctar’s Mikey Coltun.
Perfectly Good Moment marks the narrative feature debut for director Lauren Greenhall, a 2021 resident at the Jewish Film Institute for her documentary Zelda, a film also sponsored by the New York Foundation of the Arts.
In Perfectly Good Moment, Ruby and David have been together on-and-off for 8 years, since she was 19 and he 34. Six months after Ruby last ran out on him, she has returned. Once the initial bliss of the reunion wears off, old toxic patterns re-emerge. Is David too demanding and controlling or is Ruby just too sensitive? Is Ruby as delicate and demure as she appears to be…or is there something more sinister behind the surface? Why did Ruby really come back?
“I hope that audiences come for the exciting revenge fantasy but leave with a new way to think about the under-discussed forms of manipulation in relationships. Perfectly Good Moment gives women a way to process a common relationship dynamic, where a woman begins to modify her behavior to appease a sensitive man. Over time this need to keep the peace extends to changing her plans, friends, and effectively losing herself in the process.” said Greenhall.
Perfectly Good Moment will world premiere at the 25th Annual Sarasota Film Festival on March 29, 2023 at 8pm, at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium. A second screening will follow on March 30, 2023 at 12pm at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium. A Q+A with director Lauren Greenhall and screenwriter/star Amanda Jane Stern will immediately follow both screenings.
Watch the trailer for Perfectly Good Moment.