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.

Drama with comedic elements based on real life events that happened to writer/director Chris Kelly. Although cinematically often rather flat it is an engaging drama that doesn't skimp on the often deeply difficult elements of the story namely a woman (an excellent performance by Molly Shannon) losing her battle with cancer and the effect of those around her. The story is mainly seen through the eyes of her eldest son David a rather shy awkward gay man who leaves his failed relationship and unsuccessful writing career in New York to move back to Sacramento to be with his mother. Jesse Plemons is also rather excellent in the role of David.



The setting of Sacramento and David's job in comedy writing made me make comparisons with two other more widely viewed and distributed films from around this time Ladybird and The Big Sick and while those two films are on the whole better this film is still worth viewing with some sequences leaving a great impression. If you loved those two films chances are you'll like this one.

This is not an easy movie to watch if you recently lost a family member to cancer. Then again, that probably says something about just how true the storytelling is here. Anybody who's gone back home under tough circumstances or claimed to be fine when they aren't or lost a loved one or found the humor in the most tragic moments possible (so basically anyone) will watch this movie and nod their head. It misses the mark at moments, but it also hits it more often than not, party thanks to amazing performances by Shannon and Plemons. And that's how we ended up chuckling through tears. Which seems pretty appropriate for us this year, honestly.

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.

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!