Tribeca Festival 2023 Review: “The Good Half” Review – A Compassionate Family Drama!
The Good Half Tribeca 2023 Review: When a film opens up with a young child in the car with his mother, clearly angry, where the mother has to keep apologizing to her son endlessly, an audience knows they are in for a complicated story about family relationships.
Renn (Nick Jonas) has always had a disjointed relationship with his mother in the sense of their understanding of one another. Renn is a writer living in San Francisco, living away from his family. He must return home to Cleveland for a funeral, which the audience learns early is for his mother who died of cancer. Leigh, Ren’s sister, who had been taking care of their mother during her final days and their father must all come together to organize an event none of them ever wished to be involved in. Director Robert Schwartman and writer Brett Ryland put together a film about grief and family that hits just enough of the right notes to satisfy anyone who understands how hard it is to stay a solid family in the most difficult of circumstances.
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The Good Half succeeded with its smaller moments that create a larger emotional impact because it immerses itself in realism. It is so easy to find a film moving into melodramatic territory when dealing with death and grief. However, this movie remains contained throughout never striving for climatic emotional moments and instead utilizes its story to portray a story of grief among family in a way that most families deal with sadness; with humor.
Nick Jonas is a charming lead who portrays Renn perfectly as the slightly sarcastic son who holds emotions deep within that he hasn’t found a way to set free. The film also deals with guilt of not doing everything possible to stay connected to loved ones until it is too late. This emotion consumes many characters in the same way it does for real people every day.
Although at times the film dives into conventional territory, the genuine love and care behind the film is easily witnessed through the comedic and realistic dialogue among family and a look at grief that somehow feels comforting. Audiences can tell when a writer and director are putting forth material that feels true
to not only themselves but others and it was evident as one watches the film. It is rare that a film about grief feels so comforting but The Good Half is able to do this by basing itself in real life that makes everyone watching who has dealt with grief feel supported, which is an incredible thing for a film to do.
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The Good Half is a film that audiences can all find something to cherish, whether that be the brother-sister relationship between Renn and Leigh, the mother-son relationship, or even the struggle of dealing with your mother’s new boyfriend (David Arquette) in awkward family situations. The cast works so well together and their chemistry feels seamless. This is a film I would urge people to see because even if it doesn’t leave the biggest impact it has enough to make you smile throughout and chuckle at the often dysfunctional love between a family.
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