Directors: Ashley O’Connor, Joe Stankus
Writers: Ashley O’Connor, Joe Stankus
Synopsis: It Goes That Quick is neither confessional nor exposé but rather something singular and rich—a timeless mosaic of American life, filmed over the course of eight years within one extended Northeastern network of aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents, adults and newborns in which everyone plays a dramatic role that’s no less constructed for being real.
With their feature film, It Goes That Quick, married filmmakers Ashley Connor & Joe Stankus treat their audience to something innately special. It Goes That Quick is the unique type of film which remains elusive while attempting to define it. In some ways, it’s an anthology of short films glued together. Another way of viewing it is as a full-length feature broken out into distinct chapters. Some could even perceive it entirely as a documentary or extended home video. The beauty of this film is that it exists at the center of a Venn diagram between all these descriptors. But in all honesty, this project more than likely exists in a space outside the confines of any of those cinematic styles. The space it’s inhabiting allows the potential for something fundamentally more unique, exciting, and profoundly moving. Within that enigmatic space is where Connor & Stankus operate. It all culminates in It Goes That Quick being a strikingly beautiful meditation on life captured through cinema.
It Goes That Quick is largely made up of short films Connor & Stankus created with their family members over the past decade. Alongside these brilliantly mundane and charming shorts are interstitials documenting pivotal moments in the direct lives of Connor & Stankus: their wedding, a lovely looking trip to Paris, the birth of their child. But even attempting to parse through separating pure documentary footage and the loosely fictional counterparts seems like a complete folly. Each moment is designed to feel completely authentic, and the large ensemble of family members Connor & Stankus included in this film are effortlessly entertaining. Even amidst the staged sequences, there is something so innately human to be recognized in every single decision from any individual. Each longing glance, deep sigh, or wonderful smirk after saying “I love you” feels fully authentic; and that’s because it is. Just because cameras are rolling, even for a fictional project, doesn’t mean that what’s being captured isn’t based completely in reality. It’s one of the fundamental beauties of art. We can uncover what’s real through whatever is being produced. And again, with such effortless DIY-style, it’s relatively easy to completely lose any semblance of these sequences being loosely staged in the first place.
The film begins with a prologue which feels as if a family member started recording solely because it was a humorous dinner story they wanted to retain forever. It’s also quite the profound crystallization of the entire film’s thesis. A member of Connor’s family is discussing playing craps in Las Vegas, and was befuddled at how she “lost a shitful of money in one minute.” When questioning how that could have happened, a stranger told her, “It goes that quick.” It’s a simple statement when taken at face value. But it’s one of those phrases we hear in our daily lives that can offer such a profound revelation when really thinking about it in the grand scheme of things. So much of It Goes That Quick largely captures the mundane. They are simple activities which are wholly relatable: going to the supermarket, driving somebody around as a favor, leaving work after a long day. These menial tasks are experiences we may often dread being required to do in the moment. They can wear us down to the point of exhaustion and sometimes blur our daily reality. But self-reflection allows us to see that this is ultimately part of what constitutes life. It’s these moments that make up a large part of our lives, and before we know it, we can do them less and less of our own accord. Eventually, those menial opportunities cease all together. It’s a staggering realization that carries quite the impact as we periodically check in with the filmmakers’ families throughout the course of the film and their aging lives.
Despite being a “narrative film,” said narrative exists purely amongst the experiences of these daily realities. So it’s easy to often find yourself getting lost in the houses and stories of these family members. With each random memory or item tracked by film equipment, Connor & Stankus paint a fuller picture of who these family members are when the cameras aren’t rolling. Everything not directly presented in the film is just as important to the fabric of its central idea. Whether Connor & Stankus are fully in control of the narrative or not is irrelevant. But in the moments where they reveal their command in staging to the audience, it’s often startling and grounding. The initial reveal of their directorial footprint during the prologue is particularly striking, and is as clear-cut an example as any that they are innately skilled filmmakers who can present deeply evocative imagery within any setting or scenario.
If It Goes That Quick was pure fiction, one could imagine a critic calling the mumblecore style script trite. Because of Connor & Stankus crafting this project as a living document and ode to family and life itself, this takes on an almost essential quality of sorts. It’s an ever changing and evolving testament to the people around us. It’s warm, endearing, and nostalgic for a time when things were simpler. And yet, even with the raw pain present in certain sequences, it will forever stand as proof of life and love. There are countless moments in the film which inherently invoke a self-reflection of our own lives. Whether or not we have directly experienced the scenarios in the film, we can inherently relate to them through familial ties and shared experiences amongst loved ones. Whether it be a gathering of celebration or responsibility, one of the ethereal interstitials distilling a potent experience to its bare essence, or just scrolling the Internet or silently pondering while looking out into the yard, It Goes That Quick captures a personal experience and opens it up for the world to feel wholly and deeply. As any audience member might begin to reflect on the personal moments they would include within a film like this, it serves as a beautiful reminder that every possibility serves as a beautiful contribution to the long movie that is our distinct life.
It Goes That Quick celebrated its world premiere at First Look 2026.
