Tender caresses and enveloping embraces are portals into the life of Mack, a Black woman in Mississippi. Winding through the anticipation, love and heartbreak she experiences from childhood to adulthood, this expressionist journey is an ode to connection — with loved ones and with place. Raven Jackson’s striking debut is an assured vision, unafraid to immerse us in moments of grief and longing, or within the thickness of things left unsaid. Her camera is patient and loving, capturing the beauty of Black bodies and life. Rural quietness is filled with the transportive sounds of crickets, frogs and water in its many forms.

Jackson’s nontraditional narrative borrows from the language of memory. Shifts in time are prompted by movement and emotion — the feeling of mud between fingers or the release felt from being outside during a storm. Dialogue is restrained, and performances are subtle and powerful. Jackson employs the power of touch to communicate what evades spoken language. It’s an embodied experience that honors the sumptuousness of life and leaves you feeling the rain on your skin. (Synopsis from the Sundance Film Festival)

“The sensory, evocative language of the title befits its gorgeous 35mm imagery, which is so tactile that at times, if you touched the screen you wouldn’t be surprised to find its surface textured beneath your fingers.” —Jessica Kiang, Variety

“Raven Jackson started out as a poet, a background that is at the heart of her eloquent, imagistic first feature… A pure artistic vision on screen.” —Caryn James, Hollywood Reporter

“Undoubtedly one of the best debuts of the year… Jackson is the epitome of a filmmaker whose gaze truly makes everything seem previously unseen…A monumental work of elemental soulfulness and ravishing poetry.” —Carlos Aguilar, The Wrap