Jason Sondhi

The imminent death of a patriarch is a time-tested premise for a family drama and Passing Through, from Texas filmmaker Erica Alexandria Silverman (based on aspects of her own family history), is a fine example of the genre. Silverman peppers her story with dramatic confrontations and tearful protestations as her characters reflect and attempt catharsis. Yet the story, which takes place in a South Florida hospice center after a wayward father’s family tracks him down, presents a twist—is a patriarch truly a patriarch if he welcomes all the privilege but rejects all the responsibility?

Kenneth Wayne Bradley plays Gene, the hard-living father whose body is ready to give out on him. The film opens with home-movie footage of Gene in full flower—drunk as hell on a beach, toasting his new bride-to-be, Gene is debaucherous yet still romantic and charismatic. One can see from this stellar monologue the narcissism and the selfishness that will come to estrange him from his family, but also the larger-than-life joie de vivre that will continually draw people back.

Kenneth Wayne Bradley (L) as Gene, the hedonistic father at the core of Passing Through’s narrative

While the film is certainly a drama, the scene displays Silverman’s sneaky insertion of comedy into the proceedings too. Passing Through is not a joyful film, but it’s not a dour one either. It rejects those binaries as it chases a more full and irresolvably complicated perspective on life. Silverman has had 10 years to process her own father’s death and that marination produces a portrait that is expert in its tonal modulation and exemplified by the character of Gene—he is the life of the party but also a piece of shit. He can charm you like no other, or he can cut you down without a second thought.

Erin, the youngest daughter, is the one most often on the receiving end of Gene’s affections or lacerations, and the member of the family who most needs something from him. Violet Brinson plays the role and gives a breakout performance. A steadily working actor since 2018’s HBO prestige miniseries Sharp Objects, the 22-year-old actor exhibits true star potential as Silverman’s avatar. A smart scene in the film is Brinson’s first—she is riding shotgun in an ambulance as her dad is in the back being rushed back to the hospice center. The ambulance driver shamelessly flirts with her and she is not opposed to it. We sense that there is some of Gene in her, that she is coming into her sex appeal and magnetism and is not afraid of deploying it. Yet, she is also young enough and, compared to her half-brothers, innocent enough, to want something from Gene here at the end. Whether that is validation, an apology, the promise that he always loved her—she isn’t quite sure. Her arc of discovering the nature of this lack within herself and the conflict of whether Gene will, or is even capable of alleviating it, comprises the bulk of the 18-minute runtime.

Violet Brinson stars as Erin

It’s an eminently worthwhile 18min journey too, one that I find deeply moving. Perhaps it is the South Florida setting or the cinematography that frequently shoots up close with wide-angle lenses in an observational and verité style, but this portrait of an American underclass that could be labeled as “trashy” reminds me strongly of the work of Sean Baker. While there are certainly these subject and style markers that summon comparisons to work like The Florida Project, I think it is mostly my prior observation that cements the association—Silverman crafts a story that feels revelatory in how it encompasses messiness. It eschews didacticism with these characters that are fully formed and authentic, while the storytelling itself, so intimate, so personal to the director, resists grand statements or score-settling, choosing to softly land upon a gentle empathy for humanity in all in its aching flaws.

Passing Through did not have the festival run I think it deserved, though awards at Rhode Island and Lone Star, as well as selections at Tallgrass and the Florida Film Festival are nothing to scoff at. Still, we hope that today’s online premiere will break the film into a new level of consciousness for Silverman, who produced the film as a proof-of-concept for a ready-to-go feature script, as well as lead star vehicles for Brinson, who is ready for big things in my opinion.