On one level this is a fairly simple story unfolding about three women preparing for the imminent death of their father. As the film unfolds, however, subtle layers emerge about the motivations and impulses of the three. Sooner than expected we are in the throes of three well developed characters.
Ninety seven percent of the story tales place in the apartment, 2% in the courtyard and 1% outside the dispensary favored by one daughter (Rachel, fetchingly played by Natasha Lyonne). The other two daughters (Carrie Coon and Elizabeth Olsen) are equally estranged.
As written and directed by Azazel Jacobs, the film unfolds confidently. Bits of the sisters’ extended families are evident around the edges, all by phone, mostly a baby daughter and a troublesome teenage daughter.
Additional touches from the outside world are quirky, but deliver taste of realism: references to the Buffalo Bills, the Grateful Dead and most poignantly getting the “do not resuscitate” form signed.
Indeed, the DNR issue bubbles up more than once.
Likewise, the daughters are shown trying to draft their father’s obituary, which will soon become a necessity. The process of putting pen to paper causes each daughter to reassess their relationship with their father. It remains uncertain if a single sentence of dialogue which flies by quickly is really the essence of the film:
How to deal with death is by absence, everything is fantasy.
Almost uniformly, the dialogue is well crafted and quite real. Throughout we empathize with the confusion of dealing with the most universal thing any of us will do.
Invariably tensions mount with the overflow of the heightened emotions in the fairly compressed space and time frame of the film, with each of the daughters in their own way reflecting regrets.
It is a small film, which deals admirably with very broad issues.
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