Other People

Other People (2016/I) was written and directed by Chris Kelly. It stars Jesse Plemons as David, a young, gay, NYC comedy writer who is having the worst year imaginable. His mother is dying from a rare cancer, and he has broken up with his gay partner of five years. (Plemons is an very talented actor, who acts his role well.) David moves back home to Sacramento, to be with his family and help care for his mother. Molly Shannon portrays David's mother, Joanne. Joanne is clearly a wonderful person, attacked by a cruel illness that is taking her life rapidly and inexorably.

David is an immense help to his mother as she moves back and forth between fighting the disease and giving in to the disease. Unfortunately, she loses either way. Joanne's struggle with cancer is really the core plot of the movie.

The scene in which Joanne goes back to the elementary school where she was a teacher, and meets with her old friends, and with her replacement, is superb. It's worth watching the film for that scene alone.

An important additional plot of the movie is that David's father will not accept the fact that his son is gay. He is willing to "debate it" with David. However, as David points out, there's really nothing to debate. He's gay, and that's the way it is.

We saw this film at Rochester's excellent Little Theatre as an opening night selection of Image Out, the outstanding 24th Annual LGBT festival. It will work well on the small screen. It's definitely worth seeking out and seeing.

This film carries a terrible 6.1 rating from IMDb reviewers. This is a case where I say, "Did anyone else see the same movie that I saw?" Ignore the rating, see Other People, and judge for yourself.

I made the decision to watch this because of the hype and talk of Molly Shannon's performance. She was undeniably powerful. However, Jesse Plemons also surprised me in his best performance yet. Incredibly authentic, heartfelt, and lived-in, it's him showing the kinds of dramatic chops that he has and he more than delivers. It's been great to see his transformation from his earlier roles and to see him gaining more and more prestige with the types of smart choices he has made in terms of roles. I cannot wait to see more from him. Overall, the film was very effective. It's simple, but its themes are timely and they hit really chose to home. Not as raw as last year's James White, but instead it has something else to offer.

IMDb.com classifies this 2016 film as a comedy/drama. Well there are one or two laughs but they are of the nervous variety. The focus here is on drama. A struggling comedy writer, played by Jesse Plemons is fresh off a breakup and in the midst of the worst year of his life. He returns to Sacramento, to the bosom of his family to care for his dying mother, Molly Shannon in an outstanding performance.

Train's "Drops of Jupiter" features several times during the movie; the lyrics of which deal with someone dying. Lead singer Patrick Monahan has stated that the song was inspired by his late mother, who had died after a struggle with cancer. It is apt.

Other People is writer Chris Kelly's first big screen outing as director. He is also currently an Emmy-nominated Co-Head Writer at "Saturday Night Live". Other People debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016. Molly Shannon won Best Supporting Female at the 2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards while Jesse Plemons was nominated for Best Male Lead; Chris Kelly for Best First Screenplay and all deservedly so.

Above all this is a human drama. Multi-layered, the story is about the illness and death of the family's mother from cancer. It also deals with the father's reaction and his lack of acceptance of his son being gay. To borrow a line from Captain Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – "how we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life"

Have the tissues ready.

A solid 4 out of 5.

Brilliant little movie that is sad and funny and seems almost improvised. A collage of the last year in the life of the "matriarch" of a family. Jesse Plemons plays David, a son who is having the worse year of his life. His dreams of being a comedy writer are not coming true, he's broken up with his boyfriend of five years, his father won't acknowledge he's gay even after ten years, and his mother is dying, Sounds pretty dreary, huh?

And it is so sad to watch Molly Shannon as the mother as she slowly dies and deals with the ravages of chemotherapy and the depression that life is going on on on without out her.

And yet this little gem is out-standing. There are so many little moments that say so much about life, growing, family, acceptance, reaching out, discovery, and more. One scene after another that tells the story *of* life. From beautiful to silly to painful to triumphant.

The short short scene where David tries to order three medium chocolate shakes without whipped cream—and then you have to be paying attention to see him sit down with his parents with three shakes—with whipped cream. This movie really is something I will have to watch again. The final shot is what gave me hope—that life, no matter what, does go on, and maybe, just maybe, it will be okay.

Unfortunately, this wonderful movie is severely underrated and underseen for whatever reason. If more people were aware of this movie's actual existence I am certain it would be receiving much more attention and praise, because it really is a damn good movie. There are lots of problems with it, but as a whole it's really great. For the most part, the script is extremely witty and well done, and all of the tragic elements blend with the comic quite well-although one could easily argue that this films mixture of emotions is as much of a curse as it is a blessing. I will admit that it caught me a little off guard when a drastic tonal shift would occur, however the movie definitely never feels ridiculous and convoluted tonally. For the most part, everything remains quite consistent-its all very sad, but also hopeful and hilarious.

All of the performances are quite good, especially Molly Shannon whose mostly known for her comedic roles but gives a solid dramatic performance in this film as the main character's mother, who is dying of cancer. While also remaining funny and heartfelt, this movie brings up topics and themes of life, loss, love, death, sexuality, and family relationships in an extraordinarily powerful and realistic way. Although it is slow at times and not all of the jokes work, its an overall lovely, emotional, and funny little movie. Check it out!