HEADLINE: ** Beauty Is in the Eye of the. . . Creator **

Title: BEAUTIFUL ONE

Quality: * * * * Acceptability: +1

SUBTITLES: None

WARNING CODES:

Language: None

Violence: None

Sex: None

Nudity: None

RATING: Not Rated

RELEASE DATE: May 13, 2023

TIME: 102 minutes

STARRING: Stacey Bradshaw, Thomas Scott, Isabelle Almoyan, Nathan Blair, Anna Dornbirer, Allie Bennett, Anita Cordell, Jeannie Garcia, Meggie Jenny, Branden Lewis, Gigi Orsillo, James Pilachowski, Deborah Tucker

DIRECTOR: Michael Dornbirer

PRODUCERS: Michael Dornbirer, Rachael Dornbirer

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: None

WRITER: Michael Dornbirer

BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A

DISTRIBUTOR: Pure Flix/AFFIRM Films/Sony Pictures Entertainment

GENRE: Drama

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older children to adults

REVIEW: From opening narration to closing summation, BEAUTIFUL ONE is a rewarding combination of delightful, disturbing, and thoughtful as it explores the concept of female human beauty. First scenes of BEAUTIFUL ONE, streaming on Pure Flix, portray the hurtfulness of mean-girls in elementary school teasing a young Mabel Schnodgrass about her looks. The remainder of the storyline pours over various magazine modeling portrayals of feminine beauty as they impact Mabel and her lifelong best friend, Breeze Perry, through their teenage years into their young adult years.

The movie opens in elementary school, where little Mabel Snodgrass is bullied because she’s not “pretty enough.” At the same time, her mother suddenly passes away from a brain aneurysm. Meanwhile, her father is pastor of a local evangelical church. When Mabel complains to him about people not noticing her, he tells her to give it time and the “right people” will notice her.

Mabel finds a friend in Breeze Perry. Mabel enters a child beauty contest but loses. People continue to make fun of her because of that. In high school, Mabel is still bullied for not being pretty enough. She’s also kind of a dork.

One day, Mabel mysteriously gets a subscription to “American Beauty” magazine. She and Breeze start doing all the makeup and fashion things girls of that age do. Ten years later, however, Mabel still feels that she’s just not pretty enough.

Mabel decides to enter an adult beauty contest for “American Beauty,” with Breeze as her makeup artist. Mabel needs a photographer to submit photos, and she asks a mysterious new face in town, Nolan Pettering. Mabel met Nolan when he kept an appointment with her father to give him some photographs Nolan took during the church’s recent renovation.

Nolan does a first formal photo shoot under Mabel’s direction, but he starts secretly taking candid pictures of Mabel as he sees her performing various acts of kindness. For example, he catches Mabel helping an elderly woman load a heavy plant into the car and giving a cupcake to “Crazy Carl,” a notorious street person in their small town with the reputation of being “the town kook.”

At a second photo shoot under Mabel’s direction, Nolan protests her portraying a junkie lying in an alley, as it’s “not who she is.” In a later scene, Breeze and Mabel are surprised to see Nolan’s photography featured in a famous beauty magazine, and Mabel challenges him for not telling her who he is. Nolan tells her his story. He left high-fashion photography in New York City over the death of one of the models. He then moved back home to work for his father in construction, vowing not to work for the fashion industry again.

Nolan and Breeze advise Mabel to submit the more candid photos he made of her during their excursions. However, Mabel thinks doing that would automatically guarantee her to lose. So, Nolan shows Mabel the candid photos he’s been taking of her serving people in various ways. Instead of appreciating his sense of “the real her,” Mabel feels Nolan has violated her privacy. So, she ends his obligation to be her photographer.

Unexpectedly, Mabel has her life’s dream come true and wins the magazine beauty contest. They come to her small town to do their contest cover photo sessions rather than having her come to New York. The photo sessions turn out to be nothing like what she imagined. They force her to reflect on what true beauty is.

Kudos to Writer/Director Michael Dornbirer. BEAUTIFUL ONE shines as a prime example of high-quality filmmaking with a small, independent film crew and minimal budget. Camera work, both indoor and outdoor, is top-notch, and the script maintains a refreshing balance of both incisive content and fun. Most of the acting by Stacey Bradshaw, Thomas Scott, Isabelle Almoyan, Nathan Blair as Mabel, Nathan, Breeze, and Mabel’s father is excellent, as is some of the dialogue. The director’s daughter, Anna, who plays Mabel as a child, has a great little scene with Nathan Blair as the father while they sit in the empty pews of the father’s church. BEAUTIFUL ONE inserts some very funny moments into this mix. It also has a good soundtrack. The movie winsomely entertains viewers while having them ponder a serious, probing issue in an intriguing way. All that said, a few moments are awkward, and a few of the scenes are a bit on-the-nose, but they bring out the movie’s positive themes.

BEAUTIFUL ONE has a strong Christian, biblical worldview. The focal character, Mabel, is the daughter of a church pastor, and a few scenes portray Mabel at church. She sings the hymn “How Great Thou Art” in a worship service with Breeze. She sits alone in the worship sanctuary praying as well as cleaning the church on occasion, prepping for Sunday. Mabel is shown walking the walk, doing good works like helping a guy on the side of the road stuck in the mud in his ATV, and other actions, all as a result of her Christian faith. Mabel’s words on beauty, love of self, love of others, and bearing God’s image all give evidence of her biblical faith. In addition, Nolan’s description of his remorse and repentance at a young fashion model’s drug overdose after she was asked to disrobe for a photo shoot also reflects the movie’s Christian, biblical worldview. The first time the father is shown in the movie, he’s preaching a sermon where he says, “A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” In one very important scene, Mabel concludes that beauty is measured by “how we love others and ourselves” and by “living in the knowledge that we are made in the image of God.” MOVIEGUIDE® likes the fact that, in this scene, the female protagonist says that feelings aren’t the only thing that should matter to people, including Christians. She adds that people should also measure themselves by their thoughts and deeds, including their love for others and how they relate to God, their creator. Some nice images of the lighted cross in the church are very creative. Finally, the movie has several overt biblical references, including a visual reference to the passage about “The Virtuous Woman” in Proverbs 31.

Other than Nolan’s memories about the fashion model’s drug overdose, BEAUTIFUL ONE is suitable for the entire family. It presents a Christian, biblical view of inner and outward beauty by reminding viewers that they shouldn’t judge ourselves and other people by outward appearances.

Please send your thanks or concerns, and copy us, to:

Tony Vinciquerra, CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment (Columbia Pictures, TriStar, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Classics, Affirm Films, Provident Films, Pure Flix, Sony Pictures Television, Stage 6 Films, Triumph Films, Crunchyroll)

Rich Peluso, Executive Vice President, and Josh Nadler, Director, AFFIRM Films (AFFIRM Television, Pure Flix)

Michael Scott and David A.R. White, Executives, Pure Flix Entertainment (Quality Flix)

10202 West Washington Blvd., Stage 6

Culver City, CA 90232

Phone: (310) 244-4000

Website: www.pureflix.com; Email: info@pureflix.com

SUMMARY: BEAUTIFUL ONE is a charming, thoughtful, worthwhile exploration of the concept of female human beauty through the lives of two small-town women and a mysterious man working in his father’s construction business. Streaming on Pure Flix, BEAUTIFUL ONE is high-quality filmmaking by a small, independent movie company that tells a winsome, funny and heartwarming, but serious, story, with strong Christian values, that presents an insightful view of the divine nature of true beauty.

IN BRIEF:

BEAUTIFUL ONE is a charming, thoughtful drama streaming on Pure Flix. The movie opens with Mabel and Breeze becoming best friends in elementary school and at church through the death of Mabel’s mother and Breeze’s father. As they grow up, such closeness allows them to talk about a variety of subjects, including the story’s focus about what it means to be beautiful. Meanwhile, Mabel’s supportive father is the pastor of a local evangelical church. Enter Nolan, a recent arrival to town with a gift for photography. A national magazine contest regarding female beauty sparks adventures and conversations that BEAUTIFUL ONE uses to portray the nature of beauty in American life.

BEAUTIFUL ONE is a true gem of independent filmmaking. It entertains viewers with top production values and convincing acting, laced with occasional humor. It also thoughtfully surveys the pressing human topics of cultural beauty and self-worth through the fictional lives of three young adults in Small Town USA. Ultimately, BEAUTIFUL ONE promotes a strong Christian, biblical worldview of the divine nature of true beauty. Eventually, Mabel comes to a redemptive Christian perspective.

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong Christian, biblical worldview with brief portrayals of Christian church worship, church congregation sings, “How Great Thou Art,” people pray in empty church worship sanctuaries, a main character recounts a confession and acts of repentance, pastor preaches, “A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised,” multiple images of the cross in a church are shown, woman is briefly shown reading Proverbs 31 about “The Virtuous Wife,” and female protagonist says in one important scene that beauty is measured by the things in our heart, thoughts, “how we love others and ourselves,” and by “living in the knowledge that we are made in the image of God”

Foul Language:

No obscenities or profanities, but a little girl is mean to another little girl, telling her she should join the “booger club”

Violence:

No violence

Sex:

No sex

Nudity:

Nudity is not depicted and only hinted at once briefly in a spoken description of a photo shoot where a model is asked to disrobe

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol use

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drug use is shown, but in one photo shoot the female protagonist wants her photographer to take a photo of her lying in an alley and he drily jokes that she looks like a junkie lying in an alley, and man tells woman about a bad experience he had in fashion photography where a model died of a drug overdose after being asked to do a nude phot shoot (the experience led the man to stop working in fashion photography); and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

One male character verbally admits to lying when, in the past, he had told Mabel very publicly that she wasn’t pretty enough to date, but in his confession, he tells Mabel that she is the most beautiful woman who ever agreed to go on a date with him.

From opening narration to closing summation, BEAUTIFUL ONE is a rewarding combination of delightful, disturbing, and thoughtful as it explores the concept of female human beauty. First scenes of BEAUTIFUL ONE, streaming on Pure Flix, portray the hurtfulness of mean-girls in elementary school teasing a young Mabel Schnodgrass about her looks. The remainder of the storyline pours over various magazine modeling portrayals of feminine beauty as they impact Mabel and her lifelong best friend, Breeze Perry, through their teenage years into their young adult years.

The movie opens in elementary school, where little Mabel Snodgrass is bullied because she’s not “pretty enough.” At the same time, her mother suddenly passes away from a brain aneurysm. Meanwhile, her father is pastor of a local evangelical church. When Mabel complains to him about people not noticing her, he tells her to give it time and the “right people” will notice her.

Mabel finds a friend in Breeze Perry. Mabel enters a child beauty contest but loses. People continue to make fun of her because of that. In high school, Mabel is still bullied for not being pretty enough. She’s also kind of a dork.

One day, Mabel mysteriously gets a subscription to “American Beauty” magazine. She and Breeze start doing all the makeup and fashion things girls of that age do. Ten years later, however, Mabel still feels that she’s just not pretty enough.

Mabel decides to enter an adult beauty contest for “American Beauty,” with Breeze as her makeup artist. Mabel needs a photographer to submit photos, and she asks a mysterious new face in town, Nolan Pettering. Mabel met Nolan when he kept an appointment with her father to give him some photographs Nolan took during the church’s recent renovation.

Nolan does a first formal photo shoot under Mabel’s direction, but he starts secretly taking candid pictures of Mabel as he sees her performing various acts of kindness. For example, he catches Mabel helping an elderly woman load a heavy plant into the car and giving a cupcake to “Crazy Carl,” a notorious street person in their small town with the reputation of being “the town kook.”

At a second photo shoot under Mabel’s direction, Nolan protests her portraying a junkie lying in an alley, as it’s “not who she is.” In a later scene, Breeze and Mabel are surprised to see Nolan’s photography featured in a famous beauty magazine, and Mabel challenges him for not telling her who he is. Nolan tells her his story. He left high-fashion photography in New York City over the death of one of the models. He then moved back home to work for his father in construction, vowing not to work for the fashion industry again.

Nolan and Breeze advise Mabel to submit the more candid photos he made of her during their excursions. However, Mabel thinks doing that would automatically guarantee her to lose. So, Nolan shows Mabel the candid photos he’s been taking of her serving people in various ways. Instead of appreciating his sense of “the real her,” Mabel feels Nolan has violated her privacy. So, she ends his obligation to be her photographer.

Unexpectedly, Mabel has her life’s dream come true and wins the magazine beauty contest. They come to her small town to do their contest cover photo sessions rather than having her come to New York. The photo sessions turn out to be nothing like what she imagined. They force her to reflect on what true beauty is.

Kudos to Writer/Director Michael Dornbirer. BEAUTIFUL ONE shines as a prime example of high-quality filmmaking with a small, independent film crew and minimal budget. Camera work, both indoor and outdoor, is top-notch, and the script maintains a refreshing balance of both incisive content and fun. Most of the acting by Stacey Bradshaw, Thomas Scott, Isabelle Almoyan, Nathan Blair as Mabel, Nathan, Breeze, and Mabel’s father is excellent, as is some of the dialogue. The director’s daughter, Anna, who plays Mabel as a child, has a great little scene with Nathan Blair as the father while they sit in the empty pews of the father’s church. BEAUTIFUL ONE inserts some very funny moments into this mix. It also has a good soundtrack. The movie winsomely entertains viewers while having them ponder a serious, probing issue in an intriguing way. All that said, a few moments are awkward, and a few of the scenes are a bit on-the-nose, but they bring out the movie’s positive themes.

BEAUTIFUL ONE has a strong Christian, biblical worldview. The focal character, Mabel, is the daughter of a church pastor, and a few scenes portray Mabel at church. She sings the hymn “How Great Thou Art” in a worship service with Breeze. She sits alone in the worship sanctuary praying as well as cleaning the church on occasion, prepping for Sunday. Mabel is shown walking the walk, doing good works like helping a guy on the side of the road stuck in the mud in his ATV, and other actions, all as a result of her Christian faith. Mabel’s words on beauty, love of self, love of others, and bearing God’s image all give evidence of her biblical faith. In addition, Nolan’s description of his remorse and repentance at a young fashion model’s drug overdose after she was asked to disrobe for a photo shoot also reflects the movie’s Christian, biblical worldview. The first time the father is shown in the movie, he’s preaching a sermon where he says, “A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” In one very important scene, Mabel concludes that beauty is measured by “how we love others and ourselves” and by “living in the knowledge that we are made in the image of God.” MOVIEGUIDE® likes the fact that, in this scene, the female protagonist says that feelings aren’t the only thing that should matter to people, including Christians. She adds that people should also measure themselves by their thoughts and deeds, including their love for others and how they relate to God, their creator. Some nice images of the lighted cross in the church are very creative. Finally, the movie has several overt biblical references, including a visual reference to the passage about “The Virtuous Woman” in Proverbs 31.

Other than Nolan’s memories about the fashion model’s drug overdose, BEAUTIFUL ONE is suitable for the entire family. It presents a Christian, biblical view of inner and outward beauty by reminding viewers that they shouldn’t judge ourselves and other people by outward appearances.