Movie Monday: Find Me

After a difficult, stressful week, my husband and I returned to our pandemic routine and enjoyed a quiet Saturday night at home with take-out and a movie. Since we were both feeling pretty run-down and overwhelmed, I looked for a movie with a positive message and inspiring setting, and I found just the thing. Find Me won several indie film awards but seems to have flown under the radar. Since it has an astounding Rotten Tomatoes' critic review of 100% and included scenes in National Parks (our favorite places), I thought it would be just right for us. We both thoroughly enjoyed this warm, poignant movie with gorgeous settings.

Joe, played by Tom Huang, works as an accountant in a firm in Los Angeles. Since his divorce, he's been pretty much just going through the motions in his life: going to work, checking on his parents, going home to his tiny apartment, and eating the same takeout dinner every night before falling asleep in front of the TV while watching nature shows. The only bright spot in his life is his co-worker, Amelia (played by Sara Amini), who travels all over and comes back to regale Joe with her adventures. Joe comes to life in Amelia's company, and the two of them laugh a lot together and talk constantly throughout their long days at work. Then, one day, Amelia just disappears. She doesn't show up at work, Joe doesn't hear a word from her, and eventually their boss says that she requested a week off, but now it's been more than two weeks. Joe gets a note in the mail from her, postmarked Springdale, UT (if you know your national parks, you know the significance of that address!), with an-almost blank page inside with just two words: "Find Me." Though it is highly out of character for Joe to do anything impulsive, he's worried about Amelia, so he sets up help for his parents, gets in his car, and drives to Utah. From there, Amelia takes Joe on a very cool kind of National Park scavenger hunt, traveling from one amazing natural wonder to another, following her breadcrumbs (in the form of videos on SD drives, hidden like geocaches). He's worried about her, but as he takes this one-of-a-kind journey, he also begins to discover that life still contains plenty of joy and wonder.

Tom Huang is not only the lead actor here, he also wrote and directed the movie, which is quite impressive! We love road trips and National Parks, so this movie was made for us. But it is a unique kind of road trip story, with an underlying story with suspense, joy, and sadness all woven into it. There are some surprises for Joe along the way, and not all of them are pleasant, but the trip and the places he visits open him up to the world around him, just as Amelia has been urging him to do. The settings and the videography are stunning--we wish we could have seen this on a big screen in a theater--and we enjoyed revisiting some of our own favorite places, as well as some we've never been to before. It's not just about the trip and the parks, though; this is also a story about tragedy, connecting with the world, and opening yourself to joy and wonder. There is some sadness here, but the ultimate message of the film is uplifting. The closing scenes provided the perfect ending, in my opinion. We thoroughly enjoyed going on this virtual trip, both physical and emotional, alongside Joe.

We watched Find Me free on IMDb, through Amazon Prime (at the link). It also seems to be available on Tubi and Pluto TV for free, as well as for a fee on many other streaming services.

If you enjoy poignant and moving movies in a beautiful natural setting, I also recommend these (links to my reviews, with trailers - no spoilers):

Leave No Trace, about a complicated father-daughter relationship, set in the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Nomadland - Oscar-winning fictional story of real-life modern nomads, living in vans and campers and traveling to seasonal jobs, with some stunning scenes, especially in Badlands National Park (one of our personal favorites).

Hunt for the Wilderpeople - a warm, hilarious movie about an abandoned teen and a grumpy old man, on the run together in the New Zealand outback. A favorite!

Call of the Wild - a Disney-fied version of the classic novel but still a moving story of a man and a dog saving each other, set against the stunning backdrop of Alaska and the Yukon.

Redwood Highway - a warm, thoughtful film about a grandma who decides to walk the 80 miles to her granddaughter's wedding! Set in the forests and along the coast of Oregon, with stunning natural footage, as she hikes and camps along the way.