I have a reliable habit of deciding I will dislike something before I have given it a fair chance, and films are where I do it most. The trailer looked earnest in a way that usually means worthy and dull. I went anyway, mostly to keep someone company, fully prepared to spend two hours composing the polite version of "it wasn't really for me".
It got me completely. Not in a fireworks way, there was no single scene I could point at and say "that, that is the bit". It was quieter than that. It just kept being honest about small things, the awkward pauses left in, the conversations that did not resolve neatly, the sort of moments most films cut because they do not advance the plot. And it turns out those are the moments that stayed with me on the walk home, and the next day, and the day after.
I think low expectations are an underrated way to watch anything. Going in braced to be unimpressed, I had nothing to defend, so the film never had to clear the bar of the version I had already built in my head. It just got to be itself, and being itself was plenty.
Anyway. I am not going to name it and turn this into a recommendation engine, because half of why it worked was the not-expecting. But I left the cynicism on the seat where I found it, and I will try to bring less of it next time.