By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
"BETTER TOGETHER" IS A HEARTFELT DRAMA ABOUT HEALING AND CONNECTION
With
May marking
Mental Health Awareness Month, director
Kyle William Roberts ("Jeremy") and screenwriter
Sean Thiessen (TV's "Trolls: Toymotion") arrive with the timely re-released coming-of-age drama
"Better Together." It is a film centered on friendship, healing, and resilience amid the growing pressures facing today's youth.
More than a wilderness adventure "Better Together" is a gentle but purposeful reminder of how vital connection and communication can be when young people are struggling to make sense of grief and emotional isolation.
The film stars
Gattlin Griffith as Jesse Brandt ("Horizon: An American Saga--Chapter 2"), a high school senior dealing with all the angst that brings. Jesse's life is changed when he and his friends Reena (Giselle Torres, "The Villains of Valley View"), Eli (LaRonn Marzett, "Blood Stained Ivory"), Savannah (Katie Burgess, "Guardians of Time"), Zack (Juan Graterol, TV's "9-1-1: Nashville"), and Billy (Ricardo Hurtado, "The Descent Part II") go on a journey after a tragic event involving Jesse's father Jonathan (Bart Johnson, "Saint Clare") leaves them emotionally unsettled and searching for direction.
What could have remained a surface-level survival story instead becomes an evolving portrait of these teens learning how to exist beside one another while carrying invisible burdens.
Set in the Oklahoma wilderness, the group's adventure begins under the guise of a quest to uncover a legendary hidden landmark, but the landscape soon becomes a reflection of their internal struggles. As they move through unfamiliar terrain, the film gradually shifts its focus from external discovery to emotional excavation.
Clues and challenges along the way mirror their private battles with anxiety, depression, and grief, slowly revealing how deeply each character has been affected by what they've endured before and after the tragedy that brought them together.
"Better Together" finds its greatest strength in its sincerity. While the storytelling occasionally leans on familiar coming-of-age structures, its message remains clear and impactful: healing is rarely solitary, and support systems matter.
The film also will likely resonate more strongly as a family viewing experience and one that gently reinforces the importance of reaching out, speaking honestly, and recognizing that no one should face their struggles alone.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays at 5:17 p.m. and 6:47 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Watch This Trailer For
"BETTER TOGETHER"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
