“Sometimes I Think About Dying”: Daisy Ridley’s Most Non-“Star Wars” Film Yet

Catching up with some more obscure films of the last couple of years now that Oscar season is done.

Just saw this odd little indie, “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” from star/producer Daisy Ridley and director Rachel Lambert (2016’s “In the Radiant City”).

Set in a picturesque small town in Oregon, it centers on Fran, a socially awkward woman who works in an office full of quirky but realistically grounded oddballs. To call her life circumscribed is understatement; she hangs back from the banal conversations in the office, scrutinizes her spreadsheets and walks home every night to an empty apartment and a dinner of cottage cheese.

A new guy arrives, and he and Fran strike up a tentative relationship. But something in her resists a stronger connection — with him and the other people in her orbit — much as she seems to want one, and the film deals with whether she will find a way to make it happen.

The story is sweet, small and well-observed (based on a play by Kevin Armento, who also shares screenwriting credit). Lambert fills the empty spaces of the narrative with meditative vistas of the Oregon town, Fran’s gently surrealistic visions, a harp music score (!) and oddly framed closeups of various characters to mirror Fran’s slightly off center point of view. At points, it seems like Lambert is channeling David Lynch, and there’s even a musical easter egg at a key point in the movie.

Ridley’s subtle performance makes the movie work: Her Fran is reserved but not particularly depressed or anxious. We see her begin to open up with the slightest change in expression and posture, and it’s endearing for such a strange and at times off-putting character.

If you like this kind of thing, it’s worth checking out. (I’m put in mind of the Finnish film “Fallen Leaves,” which appears to have a similar premise, at least judging from its trailer. Maybe I’ll see that one next.)