You Are Alone

You Are Alone is quite reminiscent of the kind of low-budget American indie movie from the 90s, particularly Hal Hartley’s style of small local pictures, while also being a prescient exemplar of the mumblecore scene that would come out in the latter half of the early aughts. Writer/director Gorman Bechard took a hiatus from filmmaking after his string of late 80s low-budget horror films to focus on his writing career. The plot for You Are Alone came about while interviewing sex workers during his research for his novel, Ninth Square. He took the stories he collected from these interviews and included them in the composite character Daphne. 

You Are Alone is the intimate story of Daphne (Jessica Bohl), a senior in high school who works on the side as an escort, and her next-door neighbor, Buddy (Richard Brundage), who hires her after discovering her secret side hustle. The movie takes place mostly in a small hotel room with interspersed flashbacks to the days preceding the hotel visit. The majority of this film is the two leads waxing poetic about loneliness, but mostly dialogue surrounds the male lead wanting to understand what drives someone into sex work. The most egregious part of this script is when Bechard includes references to Last Tango in Paris. He designed the hotel room as an homage to the room in Last Tango, but still felt the need to have Daphne and Buddy reference the film. This is a pet peeve of mine, but a solid reminder to never reference the better movie you’re sending up in the dialogue of the film. We all can glean the very obvious reference from almost every frame of this picture; the audience does not need the cheeky self-aware dialogue screaming what they are referencing. 

This film meanders on the question of “What drives one to sex work” for the majority of the film’s runtime. This question feels like a distraction from the film’s themes of loneliness, despite that being the motivation for Daphne entering the trade.  Buddy’s character, arguably the loneliest of the pair, doesn’t receive the same amount of scrutiny for his motivations, especially in the final scene of the film, which arrives abruptly. After spending time with Daphne’s character, it is surprising that she would go through with this final act of the film. Ultimately, You Are Alone feels more like a project than a fully formed movie. I’m trying not to be too hard on it because it is impressively made for the micro budget, but that does not take away the student film feeling of the picture.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 
You Are Alone makes its home on Blu-ray disc thanks to Saturn’s Core Audio & Visual, the purveyors of horror and genre films shot on video and VHS, and OCN Distribution. Pressed on a single Region A disc, the disc is housed in a standard clear case with reversible cover art. If you order direct from Vinegar Syndrome's website, you get an exclusive slipcover that as of this writing is still available. 

While You Are Alone was filmed on a MiniDV Camera and looks like it throughout, the movie still looks pretty good despite the low fidelity, which serves as a positive for the film itself. The cinematography in the hotel room is honestly very impressive for the low budget. The shadows, along with what light is allowed in the room, are in perfect conversation with the Last Tango in Paris-inspired set decoration and create an effectively dark and moody atmosphere. The low fidelity of the digital video works well with the small and intimate story Bechard is trying to tell. Ultimately impressive work for the budget, this Blu-ray copy adds clarity to the low quality of visuals while still maintaining the digital camera aesthetics of the film.

The audio quality of this release is much like the video quality, low fidelity. In this release, you can hear the dialogue clearly for the most part, with the occasional muffling from the quality of the original copy of the film, but Saturn’s Core did an amazing job with this transfer. I adore the soundtrack in this movie, which is filled with good, seemingly local artists. There are some really good gems in there that I will try to find in the future.

This release is chock-full of great supplements. I love the sheer amount of bonus materials lovingly put together by Saturn’s Core, celebrating the work of Gorman Bechard. Both commentary tracks are great and informative, and the short documentary on Bechard’s work is worth watching. This release also includes several of Bechard’s short films, which span his career. Overall, this is a treasure trove of supplements surrounding a filmmaker that most may not know. 

• 2025 Audio Commentary with writer/director Gorman Bechard moderated by Faith Marek
• 2006 Audio Commentary with writer/director Gorman Bechard
• Original 97-minute rough cut
• "Color Me Depressed" -  a new 2025 career-spanning interview with writer/director Gorman Bechard
• Deleted Scenes with optional audio commentary from writer/director Gorman Bechard
• Behind-the-scenes footage
• Gorman Bechard’s short films:
• The Only Take (1983)
• The Pretty Girl (2000)
• In Her Eyes (2000)
• This Used to Be My Home (2001)
• Black Dog Can’t Jump (2001)
• Live Nude Bears (2002)
• Objects in the Mirror Are Further Than They Appear (2003)
• Trailers
• “Cars and History” - Strays Don’t Sleep music video

You Are Alone is not the best movie, but it is a good example of a microbudget drama. The cinematography and audio are respectable in this release while still maintaining the low fidelity, contributing to the ambiance of the film in a particularly effective way. I have never heard of the director Gorman Bechard before seeing this film, and after digging into the supplements on this release, I definitely will be checking out the music documentaries that he made after You Are Alone, which cover Lydia Loveless, The Replacements, to name a few. I love how Saturn's Core and OCN bring to light underseen artists like Bechard. I would recommend this release to anyone who is interested in hyper-local filmmakers, mumblecore, or 90s independent American cinema, or even student filmmakers interested in how to make a good-looking small-budget film. At the very least, Worth A Look