Jonathan

Elgort does great work juggling what is essentially a dual performance, while Oliver, making his feature directorial debut, here, keeps things clipping along at a taut, engaging pace. Small in scope, yet successful in just about every aspect of its unspooling, Jonathan stands tall.

The movie is not interested in wrapping things up via a “smash the mirror” epiphany. It’s to Oliver’s credit that he’s taken a more tough-minded than easily cathartic approach. And Ansel Elgort’s wonderful performance does appropriate honor to the ambiguity the movie is trucking in.

The debut feature succeeds thanks to a credibly bifurcated performance by star Ansel Elgort.

The dichotomy represented by Jonathan and John is too clean for the film's exploration of a divided psyche to ever feel particularly complex.

Jonathan is good enough for us to want it to be better.

The movie, itself somewhat torn in sensibility, permits itself an easy out.

Oliver makes sure that every scene in Jonathan is slow, earnest, tidy, and very cautious, and he pulls back from anything that might be too dramatic.