In the past few years, there have been a lot of movies focusing on the rising epidemic of drugs in the United States and the way they affect everyone, ranging in terms of compelling to over-drawn dramatic exposition that loses its intended purpose somewhere along the line. Daniel Blake Schwartz brings his first feature, Cotton Fever, which he writes and directs, to Tribeca Film Festival 2026 to have its world premiere in the U.S. Narrative Competition section. The film shows a lot of potential but, unfortunately, that potential gets squandered somewhere along the way, the film becoming a series of narratives that fall short in hooking the audience on an emotional ride. The bright side of Cotton Fever, though, are some of the performances that help extenuate the real-life consequences and issues drugs bring to the forefront.
While not exactly a shorts collection, Cotton Fever does follow four separate stories that do interconnect together at some point, trying their best to flow together to create a woven tapestry of storytelling and conviction. Ultimately, they merely scratche the surfaces of addiction, recovery, and redemption, leaving something more desirable for the audience. We start off meeting James and Dina (Kyle Gallner and Sosie Bacon, respectively) as they’re recovering, are about to become first-time parents, and want to have clean lives for their child. However, James hasn’t been entirely truthful with Dina and the baggage he carries jeopardizes everything, making their future not look as bright as they wanted. However, on the other end of town, there are Sam and Manny (Chabley Ponce and Ari Mora, respectively) as they’re scraping by on old lawsuit money and decide that when that money is no longer coming in, they need to do something to make ends meet. But of course their plan becomes something larger than them and it spirals into chaos. Then we have Akil (Ronald Emile), an outreach advisor who’s trying to make the world a better place, truly one of the most down-to-earth and insightfully heartfelt characters in the movie. And, lastly, we have Harley (Colton Osorio), an un-homed youth trying to stay out of trouble but also trying to just keep his head above water. There is a lot going on in Cotton Fever, and while each story is interesting, none of them ever get a chance to fully get fleshed out to create something for the audience to get lost in and resonate with — there is just something missing. It all feels like it is surface level storytelling, and there is a lot of potential here to be fleshed out and create something powerful for the audience to get behind but ultimately falls short of having a powerful message to say.
L-R: Sosie Bacon as Dina and Kyle Gallner as James in COTTON FEVER. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
While there is a lot more to be explored with each of the four stories, and while they do inevitably connect to one another, some of the performances here are what make the film have a heartbeat. The strongest of the performances in Cotton Fever is from Kyle Gallner (Smile; Carolina Caroline), who’s always exceptional in everything he is in. His performance of trying to get his life together while wanting to start a family, but being trapped in his unfortunate situation and trying to just make things work is difficult to watch, and the audience genuinely feels for his character. While both Chabley Ponce (M.I.A.) and Ari Mora (Playland) have the next-strongest performances, their story is admirable and relatable, to an extent, and creates a story the audience can also connect with. If more of the movie focused on James, Sam, and Manny and fleshed these stories out more Cotton Fever would’ve landed stronger, but having all four stories slightly underwhelm and half-baked despite strong performances left a lot to be desired from the feature debut.
Screening during Tribeca Film Festival 2026.
For more information, head to the official Tribeca Film Festival Cotton Fever webpage.
Final Score: 3 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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