A Safe Distance opens as a gunshot echoes through the forest. A blood-splattered woman wonders what she will do next, already knowing there can be no clear-cut answers. A female duo drag a body off, and quickly catch a bus out of there. But are they at a—wait for it—safe distance to avoid being caught? This unique film then rewinds back in time. Whose body lay decomposing in the woods? How did both women end up in this precarious situation? Based on the short film of the same name, A Safe Distance may feel a little stretched to fill a full-length runtime, but the pacing never drags. Director Gloria Mercer and screenwriter Aidan West explore gender dynamics and decaying relationships as they play in the erotic thriller sandbox with a beautiful woodsy backdrop.
When Alex (Bethany Brown) and her longtime boyfriend, Joey (Chris McNally), head deep into the wilderness for a romantic getaway, all seems to go according to plan. Joey frames their eight-year anniversary camping trip as an attempt to recapture their early years. Joey even proposes at a gorgeous mountaintop that should send off fireworks. But Alex does not seem to buy into Joey’s schtick, nor his self-centered proposal attempt. After he abandons her, Alex crosses paths with passionate, off-the-grid young couple Kianna (Tandia Mercedes) and Matt (Cody Kearsley). If at first Kianna and Matt seem a bit unusual, it takes little time for Alex to realize that they are the very same people that have been in the news over and over again: a set of bank robbers whose own notoriety balloons by the minute.
There’s no big moment of revelation as to the identity of this couple, nor does any of it seem to phase Alex as much as one would expect. Perhaps her own dissatisfaction with Joey has made any other given scenario more palatable. A quiet seduction takes place between the now-trio of travelers. Matt and Kianna promise to drive her back home in their very own retro van. At a certain point, one would wonder why Alex sticks around. She seems smarter than whatever she gets herself wrapped up in. Perhaps the allure of the sex, which she clearly has not enjoyed in ages, is a major factor. It helps to sell Alex’s questionable choices that Brown and Mercedes have such great chemistry onscreen as Alex and Kianna, respectively. As their third, Kearsley plays Matt’s internal and external struggles in a way that does not undermine the character’s flawed worldview.
The implicated power dynamics and the blurring of moral lines keeps A Safe Distance intriguing throughout. Tensions tighten as alliances shift, all the while maintaining a tight focus on Alex as character study. Mercer and West’s thriller might not be flawless, yet it definitely succeeds as a moody piece that never overstays its welcome. The forest setting helps immeasurably on keeping things tight and intimate. A gripping narrative still lingers after it ends. Despite concluding where it begins, it’s difficult not to envision what could happen at the next point in the story despite leaving our core antiheroes behind. While A Safe Distance doesn’t exactly burrow into one’s soul, it has a quiet quality that leaves a lasting impression.
A Safe Distance screened at 2026’s SXSW Film & TV Festival.
