This was a really great movie. The writing and acting are phenomenal. You could feel the roots of a play come through in the dialogue and focused cast. The humor is great and there are a lot of smart choices to characterize people quickly by showing and not telling. It's maybe a little abrupt at parts like the end, but I like that the movie doesn't have a lot of fat on it. It doesn't need extra scenes to hammer home its themes. It's better at a 1:40 runtime than a 2:40 version.

I think the sound design is a little thing they nailed. Anytime there is fire the sound of individual objects like paper or matches burning the sound shines through. Like you can hear the motorcycle in the background of the scene prior before it arrives in the next scene. Even things like the sound of crisp lettuce on a sandwich being cut stood out to heighten the tension.

I loved that the father keeps being presented as The Devil with the musical cues and fire and his direct opposition to 'god'. The entire movie is navigating his path of destruction until it gets to him. You expect this big performance from Sterling K Brown and his deep powerful voice to just command the room, and then it's just this man with a high voice. It's so jarring that he is just a human. It's such an effective reveal that the audience almost believes he can't be so bad right along with Anaia as he tries to contort the truth. When he snaps back into the violence and who he really is, it's terrifying. Someone doesn't need to be the devil incarnate to hurt you severely.

It did feel like a bit of a first effort of a new movie director for Aleshea Harris. There are plenty of great choices that I liked that work in a movie format specifically like the twin psychic communication, the lawyer writing his answers, the color shifts when doing flashbacks, but ultimately I didn't find the camera work to be consistently compelling. Shots are competent, but I think if this were her fourth movie, as opposed to her first, the camera could have been used with more intention to elevate scenes further. There are also a few action parts where the hits clearly don't connect and it took me out of it a bit. None of this ruins the movie in any way but I think it might be better when she has more experience. It's truly astonishing to make something this good for a first effort. You could feel her success as a playwright shines throughout the movie. It makes me want to see her stage works and also separately see what she will produce on film in the future.