Christina Ramos (Jacynda Ward) and Jorden Benot (Mk McManus), coworkers, confidants, and now they are enemies. The two sit in a courtroom, waiting for a verdict that will decide each of their futures. Christina is looking for justice, like many women before her–but sometimes all they can get is “Hope You Feel Better.” Maybe she can change the way that people look at her, or maybe she’ll go down in flames. But either way, she’s prepared to fight for what’s right.
Hope You Feel Better is incredibly intense, rarely veering from the feeling that something horrible is just around the corner. However, when it does veer from the usual it creates a beautiful juxtaposition in tone. Writer-Director Stephanie Ruiz finds ways to create balance, and the techniques she uses are unique. In one scene, as Christina stands alone, distraught after a horrible exchange with a coworker, she stands with her back to a stunning orange wall. It’s solid, vibrant, full of energy–and it juxtaposes how Christina is feeling in the moment. It’s a powerful scene full of emotion, but what Ruiz is able to create using a simple wall is so impressive and so moving.
The film is framed in a way that leaves viewers hanging for some time. The film opens to a courtroom, and the judge (Dan Berkey) is seconds away from reading the verdict, and then it cuts to black. At that moment viewers want to know what happened more than ever. Ruiz creates suspense here, forcing viewers to want more, to have no choice but to stick around. At this point Hope You Feel Better gives us next to nothing. We don’t know the verdict; we don’t even know why these two are in court. Even with next to nothing, viewers are now compelled to follow along, compelled to play along and attempt to figure out what happened between Christina and Jorden.
Ruiz’s film is full of familiar things, things that the world can easily connect with. Sadly, the primary purpose of the film is to spread awareness, to tell the world that change is desperately needed. It’s not sad that Ruiz wants to send a message, but rather that the message needs to be conveyed at all–especially considering it’s something we hear about each and every day.. Hope You Feel Better explores the familiar in other ways as well. Set in a run-of-the-mill bar, with typical people, Hope You Feel Better does an excellent job of presenting viewers with scenarios that they can understand with ease, and that allows viewers to better appreciate the film as a whole.
Hope You Feel Better dabbles in the familiar, in the things that viewers see each and every day. Nothing feels outside the realm of possibility, and nothing feels farfetched in any regard. The reality of this film is that it’s simple, easy to access, easy to understand–but it’s full of suspense and mystery. Ruiz does a stellar job of bringing Hope You Feel Better to life by creating a story from which viewers can’t look away. Guided by stellar acting, Ruiz’s Hope You Feel Better is a daunting story that reels viewers in early, and gives them dozens of reasons to stick around.
Written & Directed by Stephanie Ruiz.
Starring Jacynda Ward, Mk McManus, Dan Berkey, Kiley McDonald, James Brannigan, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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