A father-daughter relationship is at center of melancholy "Fairyland"

When her mother dies in a car accident, little Alysia (Nessa Dougherty) is forced to move to San Francisco with her father, Steve Abbott (Scoot McNairy). They're soon rooming with several people, and the little girl watches, with wondrous eyes, her dad romance several men. When she asks him about it, he simply responds, "because I can never love another woman as much as I loved your mother."

The movie premiered at Sundance Festival nearly three years ago (2023), and shot on a grainy stock, it looks and feels old, as if it was made in the time period it's occupying. The subsequent arrival of the HIV epidemic ultimately affects everyone in Steve's and Alysia's life (especially the former's). It was not, ultimately, difficult to predict what the dramatic finale would consist of.

"Fairyland" is a true passion project by director Andrew Durham, and the real life Alysia Abbott, whose memoir the film is based on. Its message is passionate and wise, and will leave the audience with a bittersweet sensation largely unexplored in American cinema.

☆☆☆