Continue Movie Review – Nadine Crocker’s Candid Drama Reminds Us We Only Get One Life

Nadine Crocker’s Continue solidifies itself as one of the most important movies of 2024, but it’s also a film in the same vein as Girl, Interrupted or Requiem for a Dream that viewers might struggle to watch more than once. It’s ugly. It’s beautiful. It’s human.

Based on true events from Crocker’s life, the writer-actor-director stars as Dean – a young woman who survives a suicide attempt and is hospitalized at a rehabilitation facility. Dean meets others who have their own stories to share, but she grapples with her own traumatic past and the consequences of her actions, as she tries to figure out a way to pick up the pieces and continue her life. It’s a rocky road made easier when she meets Trenton (Shiloh Fernandez). However, this journey requires her to run through a gamut of emotions to fight back against the darkness and be brave enough to put one foot in front of the other again, even when she fumbles.

Continues Provides A Blunt, Accurate Depiction Of Dean’s Journey As A Survivor

Rawness and honesty: Those two words best describe Continue. Nadine Crocker doesn’t sugarcoat or deliver a glamorized version of mental health issues in this poignant drama. Using the scenes to mirror Dean’s state of mind and how trauma isn’t easy to shut off, Crocker tackles the subject matter head on to showcase the guilt and shame that suicide survivors often feel on top of everything else they experience. The filmmaker takes the audience to Dean’s rock bottom, demonstrating the despair that festers there but also the glimmer of hope of starting over again. At no time, though, is the impression given that this will be a seamless transformation without missteps or challenges. Continue recognizes the value and importance of people’s support systems in helping them move forward, while acknowledging how this will be unique to them and their circumstances – it isn’t always family who will be there for everyone.

Crocker swings for the fences once the audience believes Continue‘s story to be over. She showcases what could have happened if Dean’s ex-boyfriend, Jackson (Anthony Caravella), hadn’t found her in time – the “what if” juxtaposed to the life she goes on to have. It’s uneasy to watch the harrowing domino effect her death has on everybody’s lives, proving how suicide doesn’t just devastate one life but the lives of many. The film is titled Continue, though, so Crocker concludes the story on an optimistic note. Again, this isn’t a Hollywood-styled ending where everything is figured out and Dean lives happily ever after with no further concerns or challenges; it’s more of a case of how she’s moving in the right direction and, to quote the Foo Fighters, “learning to walk again.”

Nadine Crocker And Shiloh Fernandez Deliver Emotionally Charged Performances

Nadine Crocker’s Dean occupies most of the screen time in Continue. Crocker portrays the character with an emotional nakedness that explores every aspect of Dean. She is a three-dimensional, real human being who won’t always do or say the right thing but tries to navigate this crazy little thing called life. Since Continue is based on her life, Crocker infuses a lot of herself in Dean, producing an indisputable candor that can’t be faked.

There are different figures in Dean’s story who add their own influence and leave their impact, but Shiloh Fernandez’s Trenton proves to be one of the most pivotal here. Dean and Trenton’s relationship isn’t a fairy-tale romance pulled out of a Garry Marshall film; maybe it was written in the stars that they would meet, but they do so under very real and authentic circumstances. Trenton does his best to understand Dean and give her what he thinks she needs, but he isn’t perfect either, nor is he her savior here. All he can be is supportive while also figuring out his own life’s journey. The role of Trenton reaffirms how Fernandez continues to be one of the most talented and underrated actors around, and he deserves to be on the biggest stages.

Is Continue Worth Watching?

As mentioned before, Continue isn’t the kind of film someone will be rushing to rewatch. Considering the serious nature of the themes and candid performances on display, this is an emotional gut punch that extends straight into the soul. That said, it’s a necessary and important film, harboring a powerful and encouraging message. Nadine Crocker’s passion for this project shines through in every frame – no matter how painful or uncomfortable it is – using Dean’s story as a vehicle to remind everyone that they matter and life can get better.

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