''Katie Says Goodbye'' is a 2016

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by Wayne Roberts in his directorial debut. The film stars

Olivia Cooke Olivia Kate Cooke (born 27 December 1993) is an English actress. In television, she has starred as Emma Decody in the thriller '' Bates Motel'' (2013–2017), Becky Sharp in the period drama '' Vanity Fair'' (2018), and Alicent Hightower in ...

Mireille Enos Mireille Enos (; born September 22, 1975) is an American actress. Drawn to acting from a young age, she graduated in performing arts from Brigham Young University, where she was awarded the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship. Having made her acting ...

Christopher Abbott Christopher Jacob Abbott (born February 1, 1986) is an American actor. Abbott made his feature film debut in ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' (2011). Abbott's other notable films include '' Hello I Must Be Going'' (2012) '' The Sleepwalker'' (2014) ...

Mary Steenburgen Mary Nell Steenburgen (; born February 8, 1953) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and songwriter. After studying at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse in the 1970s, she made her professional acting debut in 1978 Western comedy film ''Goin' ...

Jim Belushi James Adam Belushi (; born June 15, 1954) is an American actor. He is best known for the role of Jim on the sitcom ''According to Jim'' (2001–2009). His other television roles include ''Saturday Night Live'' (1983–1985), '' Total Security'' ...

Keir Gilchrist Keir David Peters Gilchrist (; born 28 September 1992) is a Canadian actor and musician. On television, he portrayed Marshall Gregson on the Showtime comedy-drama ''United States of Tara'' (2009–2011) and headlined the Netflix comedy-drama ' ...

and

Chris Lowell Christopher Lowell (born October 17, 1984) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Stosh "Piz" Piznarski in the television series '' Veronica Mars'' (2006–2007), William "Dell" Parker in the television series '' Priva ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

. It was released on June 7, 2019, by

Vertical Entertainment Vertical Entertainment is an American film distribution and production company founded by producers Richard B. "Rich" Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012. History In 2012, Rich Goldberg & Mitch Budin founded Vertical Entertainment, a film distribut ...

Plot

Katie is a kindhearted seventeen-year-old waitress who lives in a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in rural

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

with her mother Tracey who has a difficult time in keeping up with bills. To overcome poverty, escape her boring life and fulfil her plan to move to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Katie has relations with truckers, her main 'johns'. Katie befriends and begins a relationship with local mechanic and

ex-convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

Bruno. He finds out she is prostituting herself, he asks her to stop and she agrees. Katie is seen with another waitress's married father who offered a ride home and it is assumed she is having sex despite Katies attempts to back him off. Katie is picked up by 2 of Bruno's coworkers under the guise of a ride home but is taken to a rural area and is beaten and raped by them. Bruno thinks they paid her for sex after they brag about having sex with her, so he responds by brutally assaulting them. Bruno confronts a bruised Katie and assaults a truck driver who assumed her bruises were caused by Bruno. He drives Katie to a rural area where he blames her for the assault, ends their relationship and is subsequently arrested. Tracey leaves with a married man and Katie's money, without having paid the rent. So, Katie is forced to abandon the trailer she shared with her mother. At work, another waitress accuses Katie of stealing money from the restaurant, making Katie feel unwanted there too, despite what the owner says. She decides to accept the blame, quitting her job and confronts the other waitress for lying, who shows regret. As she leaves the restaurant, Katie falls to the ground sobbing, she then picks herself up and attempts to

hitchhike Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free. Nomads have ...

Cast

as Katie, a waitress and prostitute *

as Tracey, Katie's mother *

as Bruno, a mechanic whom Katie has a relationship with *

as Maybelle, Katie's boss at the diner *

as Bear, a trucker and one of Katie's clients *

as Matty, Bruno's co-worker *

as Dirk, Bruno's co-worker *

Natasha Bassett Natasha Bassett (born ca. 1992) is an Australian actress. Early life Bassett was born in Sydney, Australia. She began acting in high school and moved to New York at age nineteen to pursue a career in acting. Career Natasha Bassett started ac ...

as Sara * Gene Jones as Mr. Willard

Production

On March 23, 2015, it was announced that

had been cast in the film in title role of Katie, alongside

as Katie's mother, and

as Katie's love interest.

portrays one of Katie's clients, with

playing the role of the diner owner where Katie works. The script was written by Wayne Roberts, who also directed the feature; the film marks his directoral debut. The film was produced by

Sean Durkin Timothy Sean Durkin (born December 9, 1981) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer. He won the Dramatic Directing Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for ''Martha Marcy May Marlene''. His short film, ''Mary Last Seen'', on ...

who directed ''

Martha Marcy May Marlene ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' is a 2011 American psychological thriller- drama film written and directed by Sean Durkin, and starring Elizabeth Olsen (in her film debut), John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, and Hugh Dancy. The plot focuses on a young ...

'', and was executive produced by Antonio Campos and

Josh Mond Josh Mond (born c. 1983) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is known for producing the feature films ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' (2011) and ''Simon Killer'' (2012), and for writing and directing '' James White'' (2015). ...

. Roberts was inspired to direct the film after Campos and Durkin suggested he should.

Dan Romer Dan Romer is an American film composer, music producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Career As a film composer, Romer's scores include four-time Oscar-nominated ''Beasts of the Southern Wild'', ''Beasts of No Nation'', ''Chasing Coral'', ...

composed the film's score.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began in March 2015 in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. and concluded on April 30, 2015.

Release

In August 2016, the first image of Cooke was released. The film had its world premiere at the

. It was released on June 7, 2019, by

Critical reception

On review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film received a critic approval rating of 45%, based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. This movie marked nudity debut of Olivia Cooke.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 4547938 2016 films 2016 drama films 2016 independent films Adultery in films American drama films American independent films Films about dysfunctional families Films about prostitution in the United States Films scored by Dan Romer Films set in Arizona Films shot in New Mexico French drama films English-language French films French independent films Vertical Entertainment films 2016 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s French films