Aarcflick

 By Design, written and directed by Amanda Kramer, is dynamic. It asks us to reflect on our existence through ignored and unloved characters. That is, above all, what they wish for throughout this unique drama. Kramer’s dialogue, and the performances that accompany it, is stilted. It takes a little getting used to, but once the film settles in, the choice makes more sense. With touching performances from Juliette Lewis and Mamoudou Athie, By Design explores the loneliness of wanting to be seen, and how the characters attempt that in a world that would rather be an echo chamber. At the center of it all is Camille (Lewis), who struggles to feel anything. Her life consists of lunches with a couple of shallow friends (Samantha Mathis and Robin Tunney) who talk to her more often than they talk to her, and shoe shopping with a mother who does much of the same, ignoring what Camille wants in favor of her own opinions. So when Camille finds a designer chair that she can't afford, she is dr...