Movies and stories about suicide are often fraught with a minimizing sentimentality that hard to swallow. I was a bit trepidatious about settling into this story but found it to be very sensitive to the complexities of the story’s needs. While the film never got me quite to an emotional boiling point, I found its handling of the difficulties in discussing suicide to be so deftly handled.
The entire cast is good but Pill truly shines without playing too over the top. She finds an amazing balance of her character’s sardonic nature with the pain she is struggling through. Her outbursts of release feel so authentic while her contained moments were complex and layered. I often feel she does strong work but this might be my favourite performance of hers so far.
Director Michael McGowan has made films I’ve enjoyed before, especially his One Week which I think is underrated. But this feels like a triumph for him. He balances a lot of challenges to tell a moving and fraught story without succumbing to a saccharine mood that could have made it feel trite.
All My Puny Sorrows
Starring: Alison Pill, Sarah Gadon, Mare Winningham, Donal Logue
Writer/Director: Michel McGowan
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