[ad_1]
Cease me should you’ve heard this one earlier than: A misplaced however undeniably likable younger man finds himself within the wake of a horrible tragedy that upends his life. He’s unhappy, however in a relatable, sympathetic kind of manner, which permits the viewers to cheer him on by means of the inevitable errors made and classes realized. This model of coming-of-age movie is evergreen within the indie movie world, and is oftentimes so overflowing with stylistic and narrative clichés that the films can really feel like a style unto themselves.
“See You After I See,” directed by Jay Duplass and starring Cooper Raiff (“Cha Cha Actual Easy”), suits squarely into this Sundance-friendly mini-genre. The screenwriter, Adam Cayton-Holland, primarily based the story on his memoir about his youthful sister’s suicide, and he adapts the true-life materials as a form of family-dysfunction tragicomedy. Take an early scene by a taco truck: Aaron (Raiff), a jokester with a depressive streak who deflects from critical subjects with humor, calls to schedule a session with the therapist his type-A older sister, Emily (Lucy Boynton) discovered for him. However simply as he begins to depart a voicemail, a chicken poops on his head.
Such is the model of big-studio soft-sell comedy one can count on from this film, which additionally often erupts into whimsical memory-cum-fantasy sequences that heart on Aaron’s little sister, Leah (Kaitlyn Dever), who died a number of months earlier than the movie opens. These dreamlike flashback scenes — which, in a Michel Gondry-inspired twist, characteristic a combination of Aaron’s reminiscences and lucid new exchanges — give Aaron the prospect to convene with Leah, asking the questions and demanding the solutions he by no means bought throughout her life. The sequences finish with Leah being sucked upward right into a quaking fissure within the sky: a motif for loss that will have felt extra ingenious if we didn’t already stay in a post-“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” world.
However regardless of its preciousness (and a wildly saccharine rating), “See You After I See You” however leaves you with a very good style in your mouth. It’s so earnest, so weak in its portrait of the disappointments and anxieties of younger maturity, that one tends to forgive its tweer flights of fancy.
The film opens with Aaron, Emily, and their mother and father, Paige (Hope Davis) and Robert (David Duchovny), clearing out Leah’s condo. They argue over which miscellanea to maintain, and whether or not they need to arrange a funeral. Robert and Emily, each legal professionals at a household agency on the town, are pushing for the ceremony; Paige and Aaron, the much less practically-minded of the household, are staunchly towards one.
The film goes onto hint every of the members of the family on their journeys by means of grief. Aaron works at a comedy-writing web site he based and drinks an excessive amount of. Paige contends along with her personal well being disaster that she refuses to get checked out. And Robert, although vulnerable to open and maybe unprofessional dialogue of Leah’s suicide with shoppers, is biased towards remedy primarily based on a earlier unfavorable expertise.
Amid this slew of senselessly avoidant, irrational habits, Duchovny’s efficiency emerges as probably the most credible. Raiff performs a model of the man he’s at all times tasked with performing: a puppy-dog-eyed unhappy clown however supposed to earn the viewers’s unqualified sympathy. The opposite characters commonly lapse into exposition syndrome, as in a scene that tracks Paige Googling the time period “PTSD.” They’re a privileged and lucky bunch appearing irresponsibly after a household tragedy — a undeniable fact that the movie acknowledges, at the very least obliquely, when a facet character shrewdly tells Aaron, “You bought a DUI. This isn’t like non-public faculty detention.”
As in lots of tales about suicide, the drama finally hangs on an air of misplaced self-blame — a reflex so acquainted in cinema you half count on Robin Williams’ “It’s not your fault” speech from “Good Will Searching” to echo within the background. Searching for distraction and help, Aaron tries to reconnect with Camila (Ariela Barer), the situationship he ghosted when Leah died. Camila is a welcome presence, pushing again on his narcissistic antics at the same time as she nonetheless finally serves as a vessel for his misery.
The film’s strongest sequences arrive within the second half, as soon as Aaron begins to shed his most egocentric impulses and will get up the nerve to pursue remedy. At this level, many motion pictures would merely painting him strolling into the therapist’s workplace and transfer on, contemplating it a lesson realized and battle received. However “See You” correctly lingers within the therapy periods, dedicating full sequences to the concerned course of by which the physician, who focuses on EMDR remedy, helps Aaron attend to his trauma. The method includes a buzzer that vibrates rhythmically on every of Aaron’s thumbs whereas he returns, in reminiscence, to the traumatic occasion: the second he found Leah’s physique.
These remedy scenes are a phenomenal technique to spherical out a movie a few difficult matter, providing recent perception to a narrative we’ve seen earlier than. And for these of us who’ve lengthy grown bored with watching flawed and avoidant younger white males make the circuitous journey towards searching for assist, the scenes additionally construct sympathy for Aaron. He’s dealing with an unthinkable loss, and although he’s not but outfitted to deal with it, the movie surrounding him finally proves that it’s.
Grade: B-
“See You After I See You” premiered on the 2026 Sundance Movie Pageant. It’s at present searching for U.S. distribution.
Wish to keep updated on IndieWire’s movie critiques and demanding ideas? Subscribe right here to our newly launched publication, In Overview by David Ehrlich, during which our Chief Movie Critic and Head Critiques Editor rounds up the most effective new critiques and streaming picks together with some unique musings — all solely out there to subscribers.
[ad_2]
