“A SAFE DISTANCE” IS A QUIET, HONEST THRILLER ABOUT THE PEOPLE WE KNOW ARE BAD FOR US

SPOILER FREE

At first glance, A Safe Distance looks like a survival thriller. A woman gets stranded in the woods, meets a mysterious couple living off the grid, and slowly realizes they might not be the safest company. But director Gloria Mercer’s debut feature is less interested in suspense mechanics than it is in the strange gravitational pull people can have over one another—especially when you’re at the lowest point in your life.

The film opens with Alex (brilliantly played by Bethany Brown) heading into the wilderness with her boyfriend Joey (played by Chris McNally) for what she assumes is a romantic getaway. When Joey unexpectedly proposes and Alex hesitates, Joey’s bruised ego is so catastrophic that he responds in the most mature way imaginable: by abandoning his girlfriend in the middle of the woods. Alone, shaken, and with no easy way home, Alex eventually crosses paths with Kianna and Matt (played by Tandia Mercedes and Cody Kearsley, two people I wouldn't mind being trapped in the woods with..), an attractive, charismatic couple living at a remote campsite. They offer her food, shelter, and companionship while she figures out how to get back to civilization. So, Alex does what most people in survival situations do—she accepts help from the first friendly strangers she meets.

Turns out, Kianna and Matt are fugitives hiding out after a string of violent bank robberies.

That premise might suggest a high-octane crime thriller, but Mercer instead lets the film settle into something quieter and stranger. Much of A Safe Distance unfolds as a character study, observing how Alex—freshly rejected and emotionally unmoored—becomes increasingly fascinated by the couple’s intoxicating sense of freedom. They’re reckless and dangerous, yes, but they’re also warm, attentive, and seemingly bound together by a passionate loyalty Alex has never experienced in her own relationships.

In other words, the danger isn’t just that Alex might get caught up in their crimes. It’s that she might not want to leave.

Brown plays Alex with a watchful intelligence that anchors the film’s subdued tone. She’s constantly scanning the emotional temperature of the room, recalibrating as she learns more about the people she’s suddenly dependent on. Opposite her, Kearsley and Mercedes bring an unpredictable edge to Matt and Kianna, their chemistry vibrating somewhere between devotion and volatility. Every shared glance carries the sense that something could snap at any moment.

And what makes A Safe Distance so compelling is the way it slowly blurs the moral lines. The film asks a quite unsettling question: if someone saves you when you’re vulnerable, how much of their darkness are you willing to overlook?

Shots with an almost hypnotic calm, Mercer’s direction leans into the natural beauty of the British Columbian wilderness. The forests are lush and peaceful and an ironic backdrop for a story about how easily safety can turn into something dangerous.

The film’s deliberate pacing won’t work for everyone. Those expecting a traditional thriller may find its patient approach frustrating. But if you’re willing to meet it where it lives—somewhere between a relationship drama and a slow-burn crime story—A Safe Distance becomes a fascinating study of loneliness, attraction, and the seductive appeal of people who live outside the rules.

By the time the film circles back to the ominous image that opens it, Mercer has built a portrait of a woman standing at a crossroads: return to the safe, predictable life she came from, or step deeper into a world where freedom and danger are often the same thing.