Raven Jackson’s poetic look at a young woman in rural Mississippi is like a feature-length sense memory — and an immersive piece of American beauty.
chirping cicadas, calling to their mates. The feel of the scales on a freshly caught fish. The way the late afternoon light reflects off a backwoods creek, as a fishing bobber floats idly on the surface. You hear thunder crack in the distance; you can practically smell the ozone in the air that lingers before a lightning strike. A hand dips into the brackish water near the shore, the dark silt run between fingers causing it to muddy and cloud before slowly ebbing away….
So we see a young girl, who we soon learn is named Mackenzie — everyone calls her Mack — sit next to her father as the older man teaches her how to fish. Her sister Josie is there as well, perched off to the side. Soon it begins to rain, and they head home, where Mack will also learn how to gut their catch of the day. But in the span of a few minutes, we manage to learn quite a lot. Dad is patient, nurturing, attuned to the task at hand. Mack is observant, curious, open.
There’s a straightforward way to chronicle Mack’s journey into adulthood, for sure. What you lose in momentum, however, is made up by the gaining of moment-to-moment sensations. In a way, this is the only format in which Jackson can truly do her tale justice. The good, bad, and ugly that dots all of our paths, whether paved with dirt or not, is filled with all sort of detours. To appreciate not just the big steps along the way but the smaller ones — the feel of those fish scales — is to live.
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