Playwright and actress Elizabeth Chomko makes her debut as both director and screenwriter with this drama about the affect of one woman's alzheimers on her family.
The film opens with Alzheimers-suffering Ruth (Blythe Danner) waking in the middle of the night and heading out into a Chicago blizzard in nothing but a nightie and a jacket. This acts as the movies catalyst, Ruth's son Nicky (Michael Shannon) calling his sister, Bridget (Hilary Swank) to town. Together the pair plan to convince their father (Robert Forster) to finally place their ailing mother in a memory care facility. What follows is a carefully crafted drama about familial relationships and how they are both stretched and drawn together by their mothers failing memory.
It's a small story, one family and the dynamics and struggles between them, but it is elevated by the outstanding cast. Danner is a stand out as Ruth, capturing the confusion and fear as the world around her fails to reconcile with her memory, trapping her mind perpetually in her youth. The rare moments of clarity are among the most poignant - providing glimpses of who she was, and her fear at who she's becoming. Michael Shannon continues to be one of the most criminally underrated actors working today playing the brusque, weary and frustrated Nicky. Swank too puts in a star turn, a performance of subtle strain and tenderness.
Chomko's writing doesn't shy away from the darkness of the subject matter but finely balances it with dark humour. In one embarrassed exchange Nicky is forced to tell Bridget their mother had hit on him on their car ride home. Bridget's reaction is to burst out laughing, the two of them finding comfort in the comic absurdity of the situation. It's not the last time the family share a laugh at a situation that is at once heartbreaking and ludicrous, and the nuance of Chomko's writing means that this sense of black humour is so woven into the family dynamic it doesn't feel like a forced moment of levity for the audiences sake but rather a natural coping mechanism.
For all the talent on screen the inexperience of the director does show a little in the presentation. The camera remains mostly static, the movie having more in common visually with a well made television episode than cinema. There is potential, the opening in particular and it's symmetry with the final appearance of Ruth on screen is a high point. The movie also attempts to splice in 'home movie' style footage to show us Ruth's memories but as a recurring motif it feels clunky and adds nothing to the story we don't already get from the films dialogue.
It's not an easy subject to tackle but What They Had assuredly juggles just the right amount of melancholy and humour. For all it's imperfections this is a confident debut feature from an exciting new talent in Elizabeth Chomko, marking her place as one to watch in Hollywood.
The film opens with Alzheimers-suffering Ruth (Blythe Danner) waking in the middle of the night and heading out into a Chicago blizzard in nothing but a nightie and a jacket. This acts as the movies catalyst, Ruth's son Nicky (Michael Shannon) calling his sister, Bridget (Hilary Swank) to town. Together the pair plan to convince their father (Robert Forster) to finally place their ailing mother in a memory care facility. What follows is a carefully crafted drama about familial relationships and how they are both stretched and drawn together by their mothers failing memory.
It's a small story, one family and the dynamics and struggles between them, but it is elevated by the outstanding cast. Danner is a stand out as Ruth, capturing the confusion and fear as the world around her fails to reconcile with her memory, trapping her mind perpetually in her youth. The rare moments of clarity are among the most poignant - providing glimpses of who she was, and her fear at who she's becoming. Michael Shannon continues to be one of the most criminally underrated actors working today playing the brusque, weary and frustrated Nicky. Swank too puts in a star turn, a performance of subtle strain and tenderness.
Chomko's writing doesn't shy away from the darkness of the subject matter but finely balances it with dark humour. In one embarrassed exchange Nicky is forced to tell Bridget their mother had hit on him on their car ride home. Bridget's reaction is to burst out laughing, the two of them finding comfort in the comic absurdity of the situation. It's not the last time the family share a laugh at a situation that is at once heartbreaking and ludicrous, and the nuance of Chomko's writing means that this sense of black humour is so woven into the family dynamic it doesn't feel like a forced moment of levity for the audiences sake but rather a natural coping mechanism.
For all the talent on screen the inexperience of the director does show a little in the presentation. The camera remains mostly static, the movie having more in common visually with a well made television episode than cinema. There is potential, the opening in particular and it's symmetry with the final appearance of Ruth on screen is a high point. The movie also attempts to splice in 'home movie' style footage to show us Ruth's memories but as a recurring motif it feels clunky and adds nothing to the story we don't already get from the films dialogue.
It's not an easy subject to tackle but What They Had assuredly juggles just the right amount of melancholy and humour. For all it's imperfections this is a confident debut feature from an exciting new talent in Elizabeth Chomko, marking her place as one to watch in Hollywood.