The Julia Set

It all flows, because Niki Byrne unfurls this story with such panache and precision yet such effortless conviction. It’s clear that Byrne, along with Chase Infiniti, is going to be a major player. Just watch the movie and do the math.

At just 26 years old, Chase Infiniti delivers yet another performance that would probably be a career-best in most actors’ filmographies. She brings a quiet assurance to the screen as a kind, giving, and extraordinarily intellectual character. Many of her best scenes involve Julia knowing the answer to an almost impossible math question, but biting her tongue, refusing to let the spotlight shine on her. Without any dialogue to convey the rich emotion underlying these scenes, Infiniti shows the audience exactly the kind of willful erasure she is reckoning with.

For a feature debut from Byrne, the film is a successful, if somewhat bland, entry; it's worth it for Infiniti's performance, but don't expect any twists or turns to come.

In the end, we care about Julia mostly because Infiniti shows a living, breathing humanity that the unsatisfying film lacks.

Byrne directs unobtrusively, and The Julia Set is watchable but more of a whiff than a home run. Even so, Byrne and Briney display glimmers of talent that mark them out for future excellence. Nothing more needs to be said about Infiniti, who already displays the poise, grace, and magnetism of a movie star. The burden is now on filmmakers to create parts that fully exploit her gifts.

That Julia is young and emotionally immature becomes a spectacular crutch for the film, which pummels its ostensible protagonist with enough bad decisions and worse instincts that rooting for her becomes a mere plea for survival. Please, let her get out of this. Let us, too.

The Julia Set isn’t dazzling in any technical manner. Byrne’s direction is fine, but it never rises above an incredibly tense sequence involving a chess match between Isaacs and Briney that is essential, where the movie peaks before becoming unintentionally hilarious till it’s traditional conclusion.