I can’t really say I’m part of your typical romantic comedy demographic, but I went to Take Care, honestly without really knowing anything about it. That’s how film festivals, and perhaps especially SXSW, are sometimes. You get out to some movies you’ve never heard of and know nothing about, and you end up with a pleasant surprise.

So yes, Take Care is a romantic comedy, but a rom-com “almost in reverse,” according to first time feature director Liz Tuccillo. In reverse because the storyline follows a woman who half-cons her ex-boyfriend into taking care of her after a serious car wreck when her friends and family prove incapable. It may sounds a little out there, but Tuccillo said that creating a rom-com that wasn’t full of outlandish people and locales was part of why she wanted to make this movie in the first place. Selling that relationship between Frannie (the woman, played by Leslie Bibb) and Devon (her ex, played by Thomas Sadoski) is at the crux of the whole picture, and Tuccillo has certainly done that.

Romantic comedies may not be my thing, but small character dramas certainly are, and Take Care is a grounded, well constructed story that knows how not to get bigger than it ought to be. So many movies, especially in the studio space, get bloated narratively and visually because large budgets are made to be spent. Take Care thrives on a small budget and few locations, and was incredibly refreshing, like a simple glass of iced tea on a warm summer day.

You can see my full interview with writer/director Liz Tuccillo here.