Alex of Venice

Hardworking activist attorney Alex (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) finds her life slipping past the tipping point when her husband George (Chris Messina) walks out on their small family. Struggling with a major environmental lawsuit, unable to give her young son the attention and care he needs and coping with her aging actor father (Don Johnson), Alex veers into full crisis mode and battles to keep her family functioning. A visit by her wild sister adds further discord and confusion to a once-ordered life growing increasingly chaotic. As Alex digs deeper to regain her composure, the things that bring her life meaning come into focus. Messina makes an impressive directing debut in this drama that captures the beauty, chaos and magical golden light of the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles. As a man who can’t figure out how to use his iPhone calendar, yet excels at his role as Firs in a stage production of Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard, Johnson is a standout in a supporting role that provides depth and humor. In the lead performance, Winstead balances grit and vulnerability as a woman who discovers that while her overscheduled modern life can’t squeeze in any disruption or trauma, those are the two facts of life that remain inevitable. –Gustavus Kundahl