SOME DAYS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS Young Americans

Delicately weaving together the lives of three lonely strangers, Matt McCormick makes a graceful, unassuming feature debut. The story explores the elusiveness of personal fulfillment as McCormick’s characters bump up against the discarded – from a kind-eyed sheller dog to the ownerless urn of a little girl’s ashes – and are forced to confront their own impermanence and need for human connection. Subtle, convincing performances by musicians James Mercer of the Shins and Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein, along with lyrical cinematography by Greg Schmitt, ore standout elements that reveal McCormick’s finely tuned directorial eye. As a silent main character, the city of Portland is the common thread – a reminder to both characters and audience that, as bleak as things may seem, in small, unexpected moments around unlikely corners, the possibility for hope and beauty remains. With SOME DAYS ARE BEDER THAN OTHERS, McCormick establishes himself as an insightful storyteller and a bright new talent.