Matthew Yeager's feature debut, Valedictorian, is a spare, lyrical film about the passage of time and what it means, and costs, to truly engage with our own lives. The first half of the film simply follows Ben (Brian Dell), a quiet, distant Brooklynite, as he increasingly detaches from his perfectly average life over the course of six months. The second half shifts the focus and lets us see Ben through the eyes of the friends, colleagues, acquaintances and distant relatives that make up his extended community. This is where the film really hits its stride, offering acutely observed, authentic slices of contemporary white Brooklyn life.

Yeager is assured in his minimalist style and it works beautifully. Structured as twelve chapters (shot in twelve days over the span of a year), in which nothing more dramatic than ordinary life happens, his film has the feel of a novel, and the same lyrical, observational quality. Yeager commits to the conviction that there is great richness in ordinary life when we are paying attention, and many of the sequences prove him right. Connecting the sequences are interludes charting the changing seasons in Brooklyn's McGolrick Park, accompanied by Daniel Rossen's stirring score (some old Grizzly Bear tracks, some brand new compositions).

The nature of Ben's malaise remains an enigma - to us, to his friends and family and possibly to himself. Each time we meet up with him, he seems to have left something else behind, slowly untethering himself from everything he doesn't feel enough for; his girlfriend, his job, his friends, his band, even his furniture. We know he likes to write in his notebook, but we don't know what. We know he is a gifted singer/songwriter, but he only plays to himself. Yeager's story was inspired by real life events (not his own), and his intention was not to provide answers, but to examine the different ways people react to a choice to walk away.

Although performances across the board are compelling and natural, Brian Dell's lead performance takes a while to get warmed up, resulting in a bit of a one note urban discontent which can be difficult to connect with, but Yeager's confidently paced end-game keeps things increasingly engaging, revealing and ultimately poignant.