Kati with an I

Filmmaker Robert Greene takes a slow-brewing approach in this documentary about his younger half-sister, 18-year-old Kati Genthner, filmed during a period of Kati's murky transition from high school graduation to the threshold of adulthood. The opening scenes offer little specificity about what we're watching, largely consisting of moments that capture a blur of teenage activity leading up to a graduation ceremony in a small Alabama town. Earlier footage of Kati as an imaginative little girl full of promise and delightful observation offers some perspective on her spirit and who she has become as a young woman—someone full of determination despite having little power to realize her goals. In time, Kati's world begins to fall into place as we meet her slacker boyfriend and discover the somewhat bizarre circumstances surrounding her recent life. Although we see Kati receive her diploma, her life plans suddenly crumble, leaving her future quite ambiguous. Kati with an I is a film that will get under the skin of patient viewers, made by a capable storyteller who has a knack for drawing poignancy from the ordinary, capturing sometimes melancholy images—a close-up of an ear, a gauzy shot of a house, a setting sun dimming the skies over a football field—with an overriding sense of quiet beauty. Recommended. (T. Keogh)