Taormina Film Festival, review of the movie Thena

Thena (Izabel Pakzad) is a young musician from Palo Alto; due to her relationship with an addict, she too spirals into the vortex of drug dependency. The scene in which – under the influence of narcotics – she pushes her father Marv (Chris Bauer), who tumbles down the stairs landing on the floor, conveys the transformation that addiction entails, not just mentally, but physically as well. 

It is, however, her brother Ovid – a tenacious Dakota Lotus – who attempts to bring her back into the family fold. Despite his youth, Ovid scours San Francisco in search of his now-missing sister. 

The film marks Peter Gold's directorial debut, who demonstrates precise knowledge of where to lead the viewer: to the point where one dissociates from their previous life and begins a tortuous descent. Credit for this awareness is also due to the screenplay by Betsy Franco – mother of James Franco – Esteban Gast, and Mackenzie Munro: it's the footage showing Thena as a child playing with her brother that conveys the sense of disconnection between her previous life and her current one.

 Thena now lives in neglect, moving from homeless communities to filming explicit videos for a handler. Ovid – despite the dangers – manages to find her, but confronts the reality of the young woman's choices.

Gold's direction successfully reconstructs not only Thena's path of decay but also Ovid's stubborn faith in others. The result is a vivid contrast that brings us closer to an everyday drama – that of drug addiction and, more generally, the disapproval of others' choices – which is not as distant from our lives as one might believe.

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