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Writer-director Jamie Savarese’s short film, There’s Something I Have to Tell You, unfolds against the backdrop of the Bahamas, where a daughter returns home carrying a truth she’s never been able to share. A young Anna (Caroline Brauner) grows up hearing her mother (Suzanne Kovi) promise that one day they’ll move to the ocean, even though Anna wants nothing to do with the water.
Years later, the now-adult Anna (Reagan Kelly) arrives to help her mother build a house. Anna carries a burden on her back and ponders writing a letter starting with “There’s something I have to tell you…” As Anna’s mother continues to work on the house with local Bahamian workers, she can see that Anna is distracted. Anna is looking for the right time to talk to her mother, but there will never be a right time.
Writer-director Jamie Savarese drew inspiration from her own time in the Bahamas, where she helped her mother during the writers’ strike. The experience planted the seed for this story about a daughter carrying a painful truth she isn’t ready to reveal. There’s Something I Have to Tell You is a reflective piece about memory, trauma, and the fragile bond between parents and children.
“Anna is looking for the right time to talk to her mother, but there will never be a right time.”
At its core, There’s Something I Have to Tell You explores how two people who love each other can drift so far apart and how much courage it takes to bridge that distance. As someone who grew up by the beach can attest, Savarese beautifully captures those moments when you are at life’s crossroads, and the ocean breeze and waves become a sanctuary just before making a tough decision. Reagan Kelly gives a perfect performance for anyone who’s been in this position.
In the end, the film lands on the simple but difficult truth that healing starts the moment someone finds the courage to speak; getting there is rarely easy. There’s Something I Have to Tell You reminds us that the words we fear most can also be the ones that finally bring us home.
"…lands on the simple but difficult truth that healing starts the moment someone finds the courage to speak..."
