storyteller

“She’s a storyteller in her heart,” Zhao, 43, says, speaking separately over Zoom from Los Angeles.

“She’s about savoring the essence of the frame, the lens, specifically the light. She sees things in a humanistic way. She’s a storyteller, not a technician.”

She leaned forward, as a good storyteller does when the most exciting part is about to be told.

Relating his journey to becoming a visual storyteller, Thomas recalled growing up in “one of the worst slums of Philadelphia,” sitting on his front stoop reading Shakespeare, James Baldwin and Tennessee Williams, immersed and transported.

What’s a bit befuddling is how “All Her Fault” introduces major elements of its characters’ backstories far later than seems fair on the part of the storytellers, or judicious on the part of the parents.