Writer, director, producer and cinematographer Glenn Garrabrant’s film Visiting Friends is a tale of the depth of human kindness that is inspired by a true story. Zach (Michael Farca) is a husband and father of two. Despite ticking off the boxes of wife, family, and a neat suburban lifestyle, Zach is unhappy. Beneath the façade, his marriage is failing and he can’t figure out why. The chasm between the pair causes an agonising loneliness in Zach. It’s through working as a ridershare driver that Zach meets Angelina (Giana Carli), a woman trapped in a life as a sex-worker for violent and dangerous men. Although he says the driving is to earn extra cash on the side, the brief company of strangers would also be appealing to a man in Zach’s situation. However, Angelina’s company proves to be more than he bargained for – although not in the sense you might first think.
When Zach becomes aware of Angelina’s situation, he feels a deep sense of responsibility to help the young woman, recognising the same hallmarks of abuse his mother suffered many years ago. He offers her a plane ticket home to see her daughter, gives her a free guitar lesson, buys her a guitar and offers to find her legal support. Despite appearing to have entirely selfless intentions, Angelina isn’t used to such kindness and continually pushes away Zach’s help. She questions his motives and continues to build walls around herself – a defence mechanism resulting from years of being used.
While Zach wants to keep trying to help Angelina, his own life is falling apart around him. After years of ups and downs, his wife, Sandy (Lani Stait) decides she wants a divorce. Zach is convinced he can make it work, convincing Sandy to attend one last marriage counselling session. It seems to be too late however, and Sandy says her mind is made up. Naturally, Zach is distraught. We see him reading to his children and the pain of Zach’s loss becomes even more apparent to the audience.
Cutting back to Angelina – she gets spooked and runs away from the legal help that Zach had set up for her. With nothing left to lose, Zach sets out to find Angelina, to try one last time to help. The pair talk deeply about life, hopes and dreams. But at the end of the evening, they still go their separate ways. Angelina must free herself from the nightmare. And she does, in a climactic twist near the culmination of the narrative.
Giana Carli as Angelina and Michael Farca as Zach create a nuanced chemistry together. They are both slightly unsure and nervous of each other, and yet the flame of trust between them flickers in the distance. Carli is skittish and anxious, capturing the fraught emotions of a woman who has suffered a great deal. Farca is more calm and collected while also conveying a sense of urgency and a desperate need to be the hero. Overall, Glenn Garrabrant has pulled together the threads of Visiting Friends to create a slow-burn drama that captures how the paths of two strangers crossing can have such an impact.
Watch the trailer below!