A date to see the fireworks on the Fourth of July turns into a weird night of discovery for a shy teenage girl. “Lightstreet,” directed by Billie Michael, is an understated coming-of-age drama that captures the awkwardness and uncertainties of youth in a quiet small town. The young couple wanders around looking for a good place to watch fireworks while discussing the matters of the day, TikTok, Animal Crossing, making collages from 1970’s magazines. As a gift, the boy gives her a seashell he recently picked up at a Maryland gift shop but it soon becomes a burden, and slowly the mood of the night begins to shift. For all of its surface simplicity, there’s an undercurrent of cynicism and disappointment on personal and societal levels. We previously featured Michael’s short, “No Pets” (’21), another quiet but effective study of an anxious woman scrambling to hide evidence of her cat from her landlord. -KA. Director: Billie Michael. Cast: Celia Sondheimer, Lucien Dent. Director of Photography: Cory Eli Berezow. Editor: Cory Eli Berezow.

No Pets: https://www.nobudge.com/videos/no-pets