LOVETRUE

Does true love exist? If so, can it survive seemingly insurmountable challenges? The absorbing hybrid documentary LOVETRUE illuminates different kinds of love—familial, romantic, and creative—and how these bonds grow stronger (or collapse) over time. In Alaska, naïve dreamer Blake worries she’ll get stuck working as a stripper, especially after she falls for her ambitious boyfriend Joel. Bohemian Hawaiian surf enthusiast Coconut Willie is serious about being a good dad to his toddler son, even though he struggles with anger toward his cheating ex. And in New York City, talented singer-songwriter Victory Boyd wrestles with questions of faith, fidelity, and hope after her parents’ marriage implodes due to her father’s indiscretions. LOVETRUE uses surrealistic flourishes, such as a fellow dancer dubbed “Older Blake” who vocalizes the younger Blake’s hopes and fears, to add disorienting complexity to its big questions. In the end, each person’s vignette crescendos to a resolution—and although not everyone experiences a happy ending, LOVETRUE’s subjects face the future with dogged optimism. —A.Z.