Vincent Grashaw’s And Then I Go is a somber drama about bullying, friendship and silence.
A Drama That Refuses Easy Answers
And Then I Go is an American coming-of-age drama directed by Vincent Grashaw, and it premiered at the 2017 LA Film Festival. By then, school shootings had already been part of national conversation for nearly two decades. Instead of treating the subject as spectacle, the film looks closely at the quiet years before it, when warning signs are easy to miss.
Its lead actor, Arman Darbo, plays Edwin, and that performance is the reason many viewers remember the film. Reviewers describe the story as deeply sad and thought-provoking rather than angry, which is a fair summary of its tone.
Edwin and Flake
The film follows two troubled high school friends, Edwin and Flake. Edwin, played by Darbo, is smart and increasingly depressed. Flake, played by Sawyer Barth, is his loyal companion. As Edwin becomes the frequent target of bullies, he grows more detached, and the friendship that once protected them both starts to change.
Grashaw has talked about how much he related to the power of friendship at that age, and the lengths people go to in order to keep a bond that may no longer be right. That idea gives the story its emotional core. The friends are not simple heroes or villains. They are young people who do not have the words or the support to say what is wrong.
The Adults in the Room
The supporting cast includes Justin Long, Melanie Lynskey, Tony Hale, Carrie Preston and Sean Bridgers, among others. Their characters represent the adults who are close enough to notice, yet often too busy, too distracted or too unsure to act. One reviewer asked what the parents could have done better, and that question lingers because the film does not offer a neat reply.
This is a smart choice. By keeping the adults human and imperfect, the film avoids blaming a single person and instead shows how a pattern of small failures can build into something much larger.
Casting a Non-Traditional Lead
Grashaw has said that the team found Darbo in Los Angeles and that he was not a trained actor in the usual sense. The director explained that with an established working actor you simply hire someone to do the job, while with a newcomer you build the performance together.
Darbo has described the role as an exploration of a part of himself he had never explored. On screen, that approach produces a performance that feels observed rather than acted. Even critics who felt the story repeated its points praised Edwin as wonderfully rendered.
Tone, Style and Restraint
The film moves at a measured pace and uses silence as a storytelling tool. Scenes in classrooms, hallways and bedrooms are built around small humiliations and unspoken tension. The restraint matters, because it keeps the viewer focused on the human story rather than on shock.
Some reviewers felt that the screenplay makes the same point more than once, and that is a legitimate criticism. Yet the repetition also mirrors Edwin’s experience, where the same cruelty returns day after day until it becomes normal.
The Conversation After the Film
Grashaw has been asked how the conversation around the film changed after the Parkland shooting in 2018, both in how he presents it and in how audiences respond. He has also spoken about the value of seeing the film with a full theater, because the shared experience reminds him why he makes it.
Films about this subject carry a responsibility. And Then I Go does not try to explain everything, and it does not pretend to solve the problem. What it does is ask viewers to pay attention to isolation, bullying and the way friendships can hide pain.
Performances That Hold the Film Together
Because the screenplay is quiet, the actors have to do a great deal of the work with their faces and posture. Darbo shows Edwin’s withdrawal in small ways: the way he lowers his eyes in a hallway, the way he stops answering questions, the way humor slowly leaves his voice. Barth gives Flake a nervous loyalty that makes the friendship believable, and that believability is what makes the later scenes so uncomfortable.
Melanie Lynskey and Justin Long give measured performances as adults trying to understand a young person who will not open up. Neither is written as an obvious villain or an obvious savior. They are simply people doing their best with incomplete information, which is often how real families work.
Availability and Legacy
The film was released through 1091 Media in 2018 and has been available to stream. Its running time is a little under one hour and forty minutes, which makes it a compact but heavy watch. Viewers should be aware that the subject matter is difficult.
Its legacy rests on honesty. It launched a young lead performance, it gave established actors quieter roles, and it continues to be used as a starting point for conversations about bullying and mental health.
Why It Still Matters
Years after its premiere, the film still connects with audiences because bullying and loneliness remain constant problems. It encourages viewers to notice the quiet student, to take small cruelties seriously and to speak up before things escalate. That message is delivered through character rather than lecture, which is the most effective way to reach people.
For teachers, parents and students, it can be a difficult but useful conversation starter. For film lovers, it is a reminder that independent cinema can handle hard subjects with care and intelligence.
Final Thoughts
And Then I Go is not an easy film, but it is a thoughtful one. It trusts its audience to sit with discomfort, and it builds its drama around two believable friends rather than around headlines. If you are looking for a serious independent drama with a standout lead performance, this is a film worth your time.
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