It’s okay for great directors to just make a slice of life movie, so this didn’t need to be more than what it was. And it’s better than most, because Denis understands how to tell a story with the movements of touch. Also because Margaret Qualley brings a deeply fearless performance.

Joe Alwyn isn’t all that interesting but he’s probably not meant to be. Qualley’s Trish is a spoiled drifter who writes her own narrative on whatever slate she can find, blank or not. She’s been telling stories to herself since day one. He’s probably the same way, actually, because what kind of naïf thinks he can show up in Nicaragua and single-handedly reshape an election? A British one, in this case.

They aren’t in love. They just discovered a way to tell a story together.

Hm. Maybe I am a bit disappointed in Alwyn’s performance. With an actor capable of dancing the same stupid dance along the edge of survival that Qualley gives us, that might have been quite the role.