Sundance had a couple high profile movies centering around illness this year. Netflix paid an eyebrow raising $7 million for the mostly milquetoast “The Fundamentals Of Caring,” about a teenage with muscle dystrophy and his caregiver, which features a very good supporting turn from Selena Gomez, but not much else. And then there was “Other People,” in which “Saturday Night Live” star Molly Shannon turned toward the dramatic playing a woman dealing with cancer.
Also starring Jesse Plemons, Bradley Whitford, Maude Apatow, Zach Woods, J.J. Totah, June Squibb, and Paul Dooley, “Other People” follows a struggling, gay comedy writer who returns home to take care of his ailing mother. But it’s a trip that also forces him to confront what’s going on in his own life, and feelings are felt, and lessons are learned. Here’s the synopsis from Sundance:
David, a struggling comedy writer fresh off from breaking up with his boyfriend, moves from New York City to Sacramento to help his sick mother. Living with his conservative father and much-younger sisters for the first time in ten years, he feels like a stranger in his childhood home. As his mother’s health declines, David frantically tries to extract meaning from this horrible experience and convince everyone (including himself) that he’s “doing okay.”
“Other People” opens on September 9th.
