written by Carla Hay, Culture Mix
“Albany Road”
Directed by Christine Swanson
Culture Representation: Taking place in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., the dramatic film “Albany Road” features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with some white people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: During a snowstorm, an ambitious advertising executive gets stuck on a road trip with her ex-fiancé’s demanding and meddling mother.
Culture Audience: “Albany Road” will appeal primarily to people fans of the movie’s headliners and dramas with realistic issues about families, friendships and romantic relationships.
Filled with vibrant and realistic performances, “Albany Road” takes viewers on a rollercoaster of emotions in this drama about an ad executive forced to go on a trip with the mother of her ex-fiancé. On this unexpected journey, the two women are forced to confront mistakes they’ve made and whether or not to make life choices based on love or based on fear. The movie has the right of blend of heartwarming and heartbreaking moments, despite some occasional scenes that look like sitcom material.
Written and directed by Christine Swanson, “Albany Road” has it world premiere at the 2024 edition of Ebertfest in Chicago. It subsequently had screenings at the 2024 American Black Film Festival in Miami and the 2024 Urbanworld Film Festival in New York City. The movie admirably avoids a lot of movie/TV negative stereotypes of African American families who gathered for certain occasions. For example, none of the characters in this movie is an ex-convict, a poverty-level single mother, or is struggling with being in an abusive relationship.
“Albany Road” begins by showing protagonist Celeste Simmons (played by Renée Elise Goldsberry)—a hard-working and intelligent advertising executive based in New York City—in a meeting with her boss Craig (played by Ben Rappaport), who is partner in the firm where they work. The firm has a major presentation coming up for a very important potential client. Celeste agrees to take the lead on the presentation, which will take place in Washington, D.C., where Celeste used to live. Celeste will be assisted by a junior-level co-worker named Andrea (played by Lily Cowles). Celeste and Craig make a agreement that if she can get this important deal, she will be made a partner in the firm.
The movie then shows a flashback to when Celeste used to live in Washington, D.C., with her fiancé Kyle Henderson (played by J. Alphonse Nicholson), who’s a professor of molecular biology at Georgetown University. This flashback takes place during a time when Celeste had been offered a job at this advertising firm. Celeste and Kyle are both torn about what whether or not Kyle will move to New York City to be with Celeste. (“Albany Road” was actually filmed primarily in Champaign, Illinois.)
Adding to this dilemma, Celeste (who is in her 40s) knows that Kyle wants to have a family, and she fears that she might not be able to have the children that they both want. Celeste is an only child whose parents died in a car accident when Celeste was in college. In a tension-filled conversation in this flashback, Celeste says: “I don’t want to be the reason why you don’t have a family.” Kyle (who is also an only child) says, “I don’t want to be the reason why you don’t have a career.”
It’s soon revealed that Kyle decided to stay in Washington, D.C., which is why he and Celeste broke up. However, Kyle’s rude and meddling mother Paula Henderson (played by Lynn Whitfield) did something to sabotage the chances of Kyle moving to New York City. Kyle had been interviewing for a consulting job with Celeste’s new employer. Paula (who is a widow) pretended to be Kyle’s assistant and called the company to say that Kyle was no longer interested in the job. Paula wanted Kyle to stay in Washington because he was about two years away from getting tenure at George Washington University, and she thought it would be foolish of him to quit his Georgetown University job to move to New York City, where he would have less certain career prospects.
“Albany Road” (which is named after the road where Paula lives) takes place a little more than a year after the breakup. Celeste and Kyle haven’t seen or spoken to each other since they ended their relationship. And because “Albany Road” is a romantic drama, that’s about to change. For the past six months, Celeste has been dating an attentive and respectful suitor named Phil (played by Gary Dourdan), who obviously has stronger feelings for Celeste than she does for Phil. Celeste thinks Phil wants to rush their relationship into going to the next level when she’s not ready.
As fate would have it, a snowstorm has caused all flights to be cancelled on the day that Celeste needs to go to Washington, D.C., for her big presentation. Stranded at the airport, Celeste gets the last available rental car at the airport. But her car rental has to be cancelled because Celeste has an expired driver’s license.
Another customer is waiting behind Celeste at the car rental area, but Celeste doesn’t want to see and talk to this person because this next customer is Paula, who knows that Celeste dislikes her. Paula has a valid driver’s license, so Paula gets the last available rental car that Celeste wanted. With no other immediate options, Celeste reluctantly agrees to share the car ride with Paula, who makes Celeste drive for most of the trip.
The two women bicker a lot, of course, but two things happen on the road that change the course of the trip. First, Celeste accidentally hits and kills a mother deer on the road. This accidental stalls the car because the deer is in the way. Celeste and Paula have to work together to move the dead deer so the car can get moving again. This deer later becomes a symbol of moving forward during rough times.
Second, the women find out that all the nearest hotels and motels are all booked up. Paula suggests they reverse and go back to Pennsylvania, where Paula has a friend who has Carol (played by Lisa Arrindell), an New Age “earth mother” who owns an inn, where there is room for Paula and Celeste to stay. Paula rejects Celeste’s idea to sleep in the rental car because Paula says it would be too cold and took risky for their health.
At Carol’s place, Celeste is in for even more discomfort when she finds out that there are two other guests at the inn: Kyle and his current girlfriend Morgan (played by Rachel Nicks), who is more in love with Kyle than he is with her. Kyle and Morgan (who has a friendly personality) have been dating each other for about six months. Paula is also surprised because this is the first time that she’s met or heard of Morgan, because Paula has been somewhat estranged from Kyle, who has refused to talk about his love life to Paula ever since his breakup with Celeste.
During the course of this life-changing trip, secrets are revealed and long-simmering feelings come to the surface. “Albany Road” has several moments of comic relief, including a subplot about Carol’s farmer husband Billy (played by Joe Holt) having a secret business as a marijuana grower, who mostly has customers in Maryland, where cannabis/marijuana is legal for adult use. “Albany Road” has some scenes of certain people in the movie smoking marijuana and trying to hide it from other people.
“Albany Road” occasionally has very contrived moments where certain people show up in an “only in a movie” coincidence. However, the overall writing has sharp and authentic dialogues and situations that can be relatable to many audience members of many generations and backgrounds. Paula has one of the biggest secrets in this group of people gathered at the inn. Her secret, when revealed, changes the course and tone of the story.
Whitfield and Goldberry are a dynamic duo in portraying clashing personalities who somehow manage to find common ground because of their love for the same person. The supporting cast members give good performances, particularly Nicholson, Nicks and Dourdan, who are skilled at conveying the various conflicted feelings of being caught up in a love quadrangle. Holt and Arrindell admirably carry a lot of the comedic parts of the film.
“Albany Road” has some predictability, but other moments that are out-of-left-field surprises. One of the more unexpected parts of the movie is when a young married Amish couple named Obediah (played by Jake Ziman) and Rebecca (played by Madysen Frances), who are on a Rumspringa vacation, show up as inn guests when tensions at the inn are at their highest. Obediah and Rebecca are blissfully unaware of these tensions, which leads to some bittersweet scenes. Thanks to a talent cast and capable flmmaking “Albany Road” has a lot to offer to viewers who want to see a relationship drama that isn’t too soft and isn’t too hard but serves up just the right amount of relatable life experiences in a meaningful way.
Featuring cinematography by Spencer Combs
