Orange Blossom
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Sean Baker
Writer: Joshua Collins
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Margaret Qualley, Nicholas Hoult, Mackenzie Davis, Rylea Neveah Whittet, Halston Owen
Plot: The film begins from a moment in the past, on a beach in Clearwater, Florida. A young girl, Tiffany, is putting her finishing touches on a sandcastle she built. An older boy runs up to her, destroys her sandcastle. As she tries to get him to stop, another boy, Josh, hears the commotion and pelts the kid with beach sand, making the rude boy run away. Josh offers to help rebuild the sandcastle and they introduce themselves. When Josh and Tiffany’s hands touch, they hold their hands in place and stare into each other’s eyes. Josh smiles at her, and she smiles back with a slight, shy smile of her own.
In a creative way to show some time passing, Josh appears to be on his way home from the beach, but in the background, we see that Tiffany and Josh have become good friends who play together. Once Josh arrives home, he sees moving trucks in his family driveway. Tiffany runs up to him, hugging Josh and crying, saying she’s going to miss him. He’s miserable too, asking her if she would accept a marriage proposal from him if they ever cross paths again. She agrees, and tells him not to leave her.
Now we’re in present time. Josh (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works with computers and enjoys technology. Upon learning that his mother had passed away. Josh looks at a picture of his parents together, and says now they can finally rest together, implying his dad died long ago. Josh packs up and moves to his old town. Tiffany (Margaret Qualley) is in the final year of college, studying as a nurse. When not in school, she’s working on the side to make whatever money she can for her and her 6-year-old daughter, Vanessa or Ness (Rylea Neveah Whittet) as a nickname. Tiffany is seeing Ness’ biological father, Chad (Nicholas Hoult), who seems like a toxic manipulative, resentful, irresponsible man who never really wanted a kid. He has his own job, but he’s more inclined to spend it on himself than Tiffany and Ness. It seems like Tiffany is really only with Chad still because she believes in keeping the family together. She also worries that in Chad’s controlling manipulative behavior, he and his family would sue Tiffany for custody of Ness. Not like they care; they just know it would hurt Tiff.
One day while leaving the grocery store with Ness, Tiffany’s car isn’t starting. She flags down Josh, unbeknownst at first that it's the same Josh she was friends with many years ago. As Josh is hooking up the jumper cables, Tiffany stares him down as if she recognizes him. “Josh?” she asks, Josh looks up and it finally sinks in. They embrace in their reunion and seem excited, but Ness is sitting in the car, hurrying Tiff to take them home. Tiff offers to take Josh out as a token of her appreciation, and to catch up on old times, which Josh accepts.
It turns out being a dinner “date” in which Tiff brings Ness with her. Josh doesn’t seem to mind. They catch up a little on how they’re doing. Josh reveals his mother died and he moved back home, Tiff reveals she’s with Chad. She doesn’t outright say they’re having problems, but Josh can see it in her face that she’s not happy. Meanwhile, Chad is shown getting high and drunk with some friends at home, the guests are a mix of men and women. Chad finds a girl and flirts with her. The girl at first tries to remind Chad that he’s taken and has a kid, and he responds with “Not while you’re here.” We cut back to the dinner date. Josh makes a joke that he remembers asking Tiffany to marry her if they ever see each other again. Tiff laughs nervously, but Josh laughs and tells her that he’s just messing with her, “You think I’d hold you to a promise we made when we were 8?!” We also see that Josh and Ness are starting to bond a little, Josh teaches her how to spit a straw-wrapper from the plastic straw. Ness ends up spitting the wrapper at her mother, they all share a laugh.
After the dinner date, they all end up at Josh’s place. Ness is tired and ready to fall asleep, Tiff says they better get back home, but Ness says no and wants to stay at Josh’s house. They end up putting Ness in one of the spare bedrooms. Josh and Tiff get to have a little talk about things, no without young ears listening, they could have more meaningful conversations about life. Josh wants to respect boundaries, that Tiff is in an existent relationship, even if it seems rocky. A boundary that already seems to be broken when they can’t fight their temptation and start kissing on Josh’s sofa. Tiff leans back with Josh on top, he moves from her lips, down to her chin and neck. Before anything gets too spicy, Tiffany opens her eyes and the angle she can see, she notices Ness is standing next to them. “Oh fucking Christ, Ness, you scared the shit out of me,” Ness can only say “Mama..” before she projectile vomits all over the back of Josh’s head and even getting some on Tiff and the couch. Ness starts crying and Tiff tries to shake herself from under Josh to console Ness while Josh is left stunned in place.
“That stupid restaurant is going to kill someone someday. They assured us that ice cream was lactose-free. Never again,” Tiff said to Josh while he is cleaning up vomit chunks out of his hair. “Are you ok?” Tiff asked him. Josh starts laughing, then Tiff joins in. Ness calls for Josh, who walks into the bedroom where she’s lying in bed. “I’m sorry,” she says. Josh grins, boops her on the nose and tells her “no worries, kiddo” he joins Tiff on the couch, sitting on opposite sides now. “I guess Im glad that happened,” Tiff says, “I think we got too carried away in the moment, while our situations... well I guess my situation isn’t all that great,” Tiffany says. Josh nods and says, “Understood,” but in his face is disappointment and feeling a little rejected.
In the next scene, we see Tiffany is meeting up with Chad’s sister, Andrea (Mackenzie Davis). Andrea is a protective mama bear type who is the only one in Chad’s family who seems sane. She can’t stand her brother and thinks he’s always been the golden child, but she respects Tiffany for the sake of her niece. Andrea has her own daughter who is Ness’ age, Maddie (Halston Owen). Since Ness and Maddie are close in age, they are affectionately known as the Twinzies. We catch the scene with them in mid-conversation about how things have been going on. Tiffany explains about Josh, and she seems genuinely happy about him. Andrea even mentions that she seems happier when talking about Josh and suggests dumping Chad. “And Im not just saying that because I hate my brother’s guts,” she says. Tiff rolls her eyes, “Oh you’re not?” Tiff reminds Andrea that her and Josh and friends and will never be more. “Ness needs stability, besides, she has a father anyway.”
We now see Tiff is in the backyard watching Ness play in her kiddie pool. Chad is in a chair nearby. He seems unattentive and bored, playing on a Nintendo Switch. Every once in a while he’d take a hit from his vape-pen. “Daddy after Im done with playing in the pool, can I play with the Switch next?” Ness asks, Chad shakes his head and gives her a firm “No.” Tiffany tries to speak up to him, “You know she’s getting older,” but Chad cuts her off, “Don’t even start that again. Every few months you remind me of how old she’s getting but what you really want to talk about is having another crotch goblin. I don’t want more kids!” he says under his breath, “I didn’t even want that one.” “Excuse me?” Tiffany asks. “I said,” Chad raises his voice, “I didnt even want that one, so stop trying to ask me, damn it, Tiffany.” Tiff stands up, tips her chair over and storms inside.
Feeling defeated, Tiff sends a text message to Josh, asking if he ever wants his own children someday. Ness comes inside and cuddles with Tiff, an effort to cheer her up. Josh responds back with, “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind having kids of my own someday. I just gotta find a woman stupid enough to have them with me.” as Chad walks into the house, Tiffany lets out a laugh from Josh’s message. “fuck you laughing at?” Chad asks. “None of your business.” Chad notices Ness is still wet from playing in the kiddie pool. “Are you soaking wet, sitting on my furniture?” he asks angrily, Ness gives him a scared look. “She’s fine, Chad, leave her alone.” Tiffany sends a message to Josh, asking if he’s not busy over the weekend, they should all hang out again.
Later on that night, Tiffany is trying to sleep when Chad comes in clearly high and drunk. He starts getting touchy with Tiffany and says they should make a baby tonight. Tiffany reminds him that he didn’t want one earlier, and he tells her that hes allowed to change his mind. As Chad starts to make love to her, Tiffany fantasizes that she’s making love to Josh, therefore when its all said and done, Chad compliments Tiffany, saying it was the best sex she gave him in years.
The next scene shows Chad coming to the dining room to greet Tiff and Ness. Still feeling good about the night before, so his nice guy behavior seems a little off-putting, especially to Ness who gets grossed out when Chad kisses her forehead. Tiff says she’ll take a home pregnancy test in a few days, but Chad, no longer high and drunk, tells her she’s going to take her birth control and that he’s never going to hear about it again. He leaves for work and Tiff is frustrated with Chad again. She looks at Ness and says, “Wanna have a beach day with Josh?”
The beach day scene has Tiffany sitting in her beach chair with Andrea. Ness and Maddie, the Twinzies are keeping Josh busy as he plays with them. Tiffany is unloading on Andrea, who says, “Its a nice beach day. Do I need to be your therapist for your relationship with my brother now?” Tiffany gets flustered, “Fine.” she says. “I just don’t get how you’re going home to my brother but going out with this Josh guy. It's like you’re seeing two different men right now. Pick one.” Tiffany shakes her head, “Josh and I are just friends. We’ve known each other since we were kids. And besides,” she looks at Josh carrying Ness and Maddie in his arms, taking them out into the ocean, “I think Ness likes Josh too.” “You’re only going to confuse her. You know what my stance is on my brother, I want whats best for you and Ness, but don’t string Josh along,” Andrea said. “Am I stringing him around?” Tiff asks.
Josh is in the water with the cousins in each arm. Ness tells Josh to take them further out to sea, but Maddie gets nervous and tells Josh not to go out far. Ness reminds Maddie that Josh will never let anything happen to them. Josh nods in agreement.
On the ride home from the beach, Ness is in the backseat with Tiffany driving. “Mommy,” Ness says, “I like Mr. Josh!” Tiffany smiles, “He’s a good guy, isn’t he? I kinda like him too.” “Does that mean I can marry him?!” Ness asks. Tiffany lets out a nervous laugh, “Baby, Im afraid Mr. Josh is too old for you, but I’m sure he’d love to be your forever friend.”
We get a montage of Josh hanging out with Tiffany and Ness doing a bunch of fun things together. From going to Bush Gardens in Tampa, hanging out on the beach, we also see Tiff getting comfortable enough with letting Josh watch Ness while she goes to school and work. With that, Josh teaches Ness how to swim and ditch the floaties, he also teaches her how to fish. Their bond only seems to strengthen as time goes on. The montage goes through the seasons, ending on Halloween.
Josh is helping Ness carve a pumpkin. While they are drawing their faces on the pumpkins, Ness curiously asks, “Mr. Josh, how do you know my mom?” and Josh answers, “Well, we met as kids, not much older than you. We were inseparable at the time. One day, I moved away and then I decided to come back and well, the rest is what you’ve witnessed.” “Are you her boyfriend?” Ness asks. “Nah, just really good friends. We both love you though,” he smiles at her. “Alright, I guess these ugly things are ready to be carved. Can you grab me a knife from the kitchen drawer? Im trusting you not to slice your hand off.”
Ness obeys, retrieves a carving knife from the drawer and hands it safely to Josh, “Here you go, Dad,” Ness said, “I mean.. Mr. Josh, sorry.” Josh looks down at her, smiles and boops her nose. Josh didn’t let it be obvious that while he thought Ness’ slip-up on calling him dad was cute, it feels like a role he’s always wanted, but isn’t entitled to. It only made him feel lonely on the inside and mad at Tiffany for not seeing a relationship with him beyond just a friendship. He feels like he’s living an illusion.
A few days later, Tiff is working and Josh is watching Ness. When Tiff arrives to pick up Ness, who was asleep in a spare room, Josh decides to air his grievances with Tiffany. Tiffany says she had a bad day at work, shes stressed over keeping up with school and Chad is always on his shit and it pisses her off, and now shes got Josh yelling at her when he never made it clearer to her about what he wanted out of her. This fight just leads to them no longer wanting to see each other again.
The breakup has Josh trying to go about his life, but it feels incomplete. He thinks about the great times he spent with Tiff and Ness. Tiff is trying to carry on with her own life, being ignored by Chad and trying to take care of her daughter. Ness starts noticing that they are no longer seeing Josh anymore, so one night, she asks if they could see him soon. “No baby, we can’t see Josh anymore.” she responds to Ness’ request. When Ness asks why, Tiffany says, “We just can’t anymore. It’ll be ok.” “Does he not like us anymore?” Ness asks, “Of course not sweetie, Josh loves you. Its my fault, ok?” Ness storms off to her room and slams the door and crying in bed. Tiffany tries to console her, but Ness simply tells her, “Don’t”
Next scene, we see Tiffany is talking with Andrea, having coffee in a park while Ness and Maddie are playing on the playground. Tiffany is upset, asking Andrea if she wants another 6 year old. Andrea says no, so Tiff says she’s probably going to put Ness up for adoption. She says maybe the family who takes her will let her see her every once in a while. She’ll just be the crazy old cat lady that lives next door and screams at traffic, but is secretly Ness’ mother. When Andrea asks what happened, Tiffany explains about the fight with Josh. She admits that he’s not wrong. We see Ness is climbing up on the playground equipment, she loses her footing and falls down, knocking her unconscious as she hits a support beam on the way down. Andrea suggests she talk to Josh. But before she could even process Andrea’s suggestion, Maddie comes running up to them to say Ness is hurt. Tiffany rushes to check on Ness and sees her unresponsive.
Tiff is afraid of moving her in case she had a serious neck injury, so an ambulance shows up and takes Tiff and Ness to the hospital with Andrea and Maddie following the ambulance. Tiff tries to tell Chad what happened and all she gets is him saying “bet she wont do that again. Why werent you watching her?” Tiff decides to message Josh as well, saying “I know we’re not talking right now, but Ness got hurt on the playground. Bad, going to the hospital now.” Josh replies back, “Im on my way.” She gives a half smile, “You don’t have to..” and Josh says back, “I know, but I’m on my way.”
Josh gets to the hospital and he sees Andrea and Maddie in the waiting room. They give him a brief rundown of what they know, he goes to the registration and asks to see Ness. The registrar asks if he’s the dad, and before he can answer, Andrea says, “Yep, hes the dad, let him in.”
Josh heads to Ness’ room, sees Tiffany with a hand on her head while Ness is in bed still unconscious and hooked up to machines. Tiff sees him enter the room and stands up to hug him, “Thanks for coming, she’s going to be thrilled that you’re here,” Tiff says. “I just knew I had to come.” “I’m gonna go tell Andrea she and Maddie can go home. Can you stay with her in case she wakes up?” Tiffany asks. Josh agrees. And Ness starts coming to, she looks around the room, sees herself hooked up to medical equipment and sees Josh staring at her.
“Jawsh?” She asks in a weak voice. Josh smiles and tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear, “Ness, if you wanted to see me again, all you had to do was ask, not try to kill yourself.” Tiff returns to the room, sees Ness awake and embraces Ness, holding her tight. “Well, maybe I should go. This is your time together,” Josh says, Ness touches his hand and in her weak voice says, “Stay.”
When Ness gets discharged, Josh walks her out to the car. She feels much better after the accident, talking in her normal voice, “Can we see you again?” Ness asks Josh after he gives her a big hug. “We’ll try to work something out, alright? Just go easy on your mother, She loves you, we both do.” Ness nods in agreement and smiles.
While things are still totally unsettled with Josh and Tiffany, they do agree to let Ness visit Josh again while Tiff goes to school and work. It goes well enough for a brief time, but one night, Josh had agreed to watch Ness and Maddie while Andrea and Tiffany went for a mom’s night out. Ness and Maddie bicker and annoy each other for the better part of the night. Ness finally had enough of Maddie wrecking her lego structure before she says, “That’s it, we’re not Twinzies anymore. I hate you.” and Maddie retorts, “I hate you too, you’re so annoying.” Josh decides to intervene, “Hey now, why are the twinzies breaking up?” Josh got a sense that there was something more going on, so he got down to talk to her on her level.
Ness starts getting emotional and crying, saying she misses how it was. That she wants her and Josh and her mom to all be together. Josh tries to lift her spirit up, talking to her and saying that he can’t promise things will go back to the way they were, but things can only get better, reminding her that they’re getting to see each other again. He ends up making her feel better and she makes up with Maddie.
After some time passes, Josh agrees to coming to Tiffany’s graduation with Andrea, Maddie and Ness in attendance with him. Ness falls asleep from the boring speeches, clinging onto Josh in his lap. The noises of the crowd clapping and cheering wakes Ness up briefly, she whispers ‘Dad’ in Josh’s ear. He says ‘Daughter’ in her ear, and she smiles. After the graduation, Josh and Tiffany make up, in a funny monologue where Tiffany says she hates Josh, and hates how great of a guy he is and how it makes everything so complicated, hates how sickeningly cute he is with Ness so it makes it even harder for her to ditch him. After the monologue, Josh simply says he hates her too. Tiffany says, “Good, cuz now I’m going to fucking hate what we’re about to do,” which leads to them making love.
There is still a matter of dealing with Chad left. Tiffany has a hard time finding someone to watch Ness while she goes to work. Ness wanted Josh, but Josh was out of town for a year-memorial since his mother passed away. Tiff figured she could leave Ness with Chad for the night. But Chad invites some friends over to hang out and get high. Chad leaves the room with a girl, leaving Ness alone with a stranger. The stranger, who is totally high sits next to Ness on the couch while she is trying to watch cartoons and eat dinner. He says creepy things to Ness and tries to put a hand on her thigh, Ness screams and runs to her room. Chad asks his friend what happened and the friend covers it. Ness tells Tiffany what happened when she sees her mom come home, in which Tiffany has had it, packs Ness up and leaves with her. She takes Ness to Andrea’s house, tells her what happened and says they’ll wait for Josh to come home and they’ll move in with him. Andrea confronts Chad over his stupid decision to leave a stranger alone with Ness. Chad didn’t know, so after Andrea tells him he needs to fuck off.
When Tiffany returns to Chad’s house to collect stuff for her and Ness, Chad agrees to let her go. That his bad parenting nearly got Ness hurt. Tiff tells him she doesn’t want child support or anything, she just wants him to live his life as if they didn’t exist.
In the final scene, it seems like some time has passed. “Run” by Collective Soul is heard over the video. Josh, Tiffany and Ness are now a family. They are hanging out on the beach enjoying some family time. Tiff appears to even be pregnant with Josh’s baby.
The picture fades out with the music carrying over to the credits-roll.
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