Icon opens with a dreamy look at an arcade. It’s the last place Sam (Ronald Sansone as kid Sam, Parker Padgett as teen Sam) saw his father (Luke Skinner in flashbacks, Tony DeMil in present day) when he was young. There’s a hazy, yet vibrant filter over the scene as young Sam runs among the noisy, colorful machines. It’s painful because it marks the end of something, but beautiful as a memory for Sam.

When the film catches up to the present day, Sam is a teenager in the backseat of Ana’s (Devon Hales) car. This is the beginning of their teenage romance. It’s all stolen moments, rose-colored glasses, and the sort of ecstasy that only exists when you’re falling in love for the first time. Things are perfect…and then Ana is pregnant and the carefree world they know is shattered. As he and Ana discuss options when it comes to their child, Sam is focused on his own fatherless childhood.

From that first present-day scene, the electricity between Hales and Padgett is obvious. Their teasing banter is effortless. Their conversations are filled with the sort of bubbly, youthful giddiness that makes the audience ache for their own memories of that time. The relationship between Sam and Ana comes to life so vibrantly thanks to these young talents. As the movie shifts and Sam and Ana’s reality transforms into something more than ooey-gooey teenage crush, Hales and Padgett continue to hold their own. In lesser hands, some of the scenes between them could have fallen into the realm of melodrama. There’s a deftness in the way Hales and Padgett portray these big, angry, joyous teenage emotions while managing to feel like kids you knew in high school.

There’s a restrained nature to the filmmaking of Icon. Writer/director Tony Ahedo isn’t afraid to let the camera linger over Sam as he skateboards through lonely streets or fiddles with his father’s necklace, clearly burdened with the effort of becoming a different father than the one he knew. Ahedo also keeps the camera locked on Ana as she processes the way her life has turned upside down. So much emotion is conveyed in the smallest of eyebrow raises, and there’s great depth in the unwavering way Ana watches Sam. Despite the fact that they’re in this situation together, each feels like they have to be the one to figure everything out. They’re two kids trying to be the one to grow up and bear the burden, but in reality, they’re just two kids terrified out of their minds. Sam is stuck without a support system or a true understanding of what fatherhood means to him, even as he’s trying to do what’s best for his kid. It’s a life he doesn’t even know if he wants. Ana believes this is a weight that is hers alone and retreats within herself. Sam and Ana don’t realize it’s a burden they can share because they’re trapped by the poor communication constraints of being young.

Icon’s story of teenagers facing an unplanned pregnancy is nothing new, yet it feels a bit like catching lightning in a bottle. It’s an impressive debut on all accounts, a film that manages to capture the melancholy and joy of loving someone when you’re a teenager. How love is more complex than just the good days, how grieving someone who’s gone is not simple, and the ways we try to be better for the next generation. There are no perfect answers for Sam and Ana, but they are young and hopeful. There’s no step-by-step manual for them to follow, so they end the film in the best way they can: with open hearts, a willingness to fail, and an even greater willingness to try.

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