We all remember the pandemic and that time very vividly. It took over two and a half years of our lives. Wearing Masks and quarantining was the norm. Even teachers and students had a difficult time. They had to do remote learning to some extent which meant Zoom sessions more often than not. Rachel Hendrix explores that time in our country’s history and a whole lot more.

Rachel (Lori Singer) is a college professor and mother. She is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and grief over the death of her husband the year before. Reconnecting with her children is an important part of her going forward. Working with her students, her co-workers,  and a teen from her hometown helps take her mind off of the grief she has been suffering from, but it hasn’t been easy on her.

The director, Victor Nunez, who made Uley’s Gold a while back has chosen to do a few things differently than you’d expect for a story such as this. He uses visions as a way for Rachel Hendricks to reconnect with her husband and kids when they were young. In the real world, her children are adults, one Susan (Kersti Bryan) lives near her and tries to be present in her life. The other Jimmy (Chris Grabher) lives in California with his family. He connects with his mother via FaceTime phone calls on an iPhone. These are some of the more emotional scenes in the story of this woman. 

Not having dealt with grief for a while now, I wasn’t able to relate to this woman that much in that regard, but I was able to connect to the story through her job and various things that revolved around writing. Many moments in this movie revolve around teaching writing or writing down thoughts to make it easier to get things out. The supporting character of Ann (Kim Sandwich) who helps Rachel Hendricks clean her beach house has a few difficulties herself and the lead character tries to help her in her way. Writing a note helps explain the issues of grief she’s dealing with. Writing plays a huge part in the story. It’s a very important tool in getting things done and said in the film.  As a writer myself I was glad to see the importance of writing to take the minds off of difficulties and to get thoughts out in the open. The professional use of this medium was very well used as well. This has been a saving grace for me in my life so I was glad to see the director make it a main theme of his movie besides grief.

There were a few things that I wasn’t as much a fan of in this film. I felt the movie dragged a little bit, especially in the second act with the main character drinking a lot of whiskey and going back and forth between her job, students, and the beach house in the Big Bend area of Florida. There just wasn’t enough to keep me and others I was with interested in this woman’s story. It wasn’t like we weren’t invested from the beginning, but it didn’t hook us like we’d hoped it would. 

The second issue I had was the acting seemed a little wooden for my liking. Especially with the Singer character. Yes, she was dealing with a lot of emotions, but I didn’t get much emotion from her. She just came across as mostly somber and sad the whole time. Even when she’s with her family or hanging out with friends she’s sad. I get it she still hasn’t gotten over the death of her husband, but I needed a little more from her as an actress portraying this character.

The third issue I had with this movie was there wasn’t much music or a score to be had here. If there was a score it may have been able to accentuate to somber slower moments while the main character was on her own driving or just by herself. Music is an important part of movies and this one lacked that aspect for me. Maybe it was the budget, who knows? They may not have been able to afford a song or a composer for an accompanying score. That’s sad because it was sorely needed here.

Rachel Hendrix isn’t a bad film by any means. It’s just not up to the caliber of other Nunez films. He assembles a good cast but the lead actress fails to elicit the full range of emotion I was hoping for with this character. It just seemed like a one-note performance for me. The story itself was very good with some interesting decisions by the director to get the script fully fleshed out. The writing aspects of the story stood out for me as a writer myself. I enjoyed this movie but I didn’t love this movie as much as I hoped I would.

3 stars

Dan Skip Allen