12 Gays of Christmas
By Tina Wargo
Courtesy of Vertical Entertainment.
Other People
Other People is an indie masterpiece, and one of the best films I’ve seen in the past few years. This is an instance where the gayness informs the story. Our protagonist is David. He is a recently-single gay man who returns home to help his family when his mother is diagnosed with cancer.
Though the meat of the story lies in his family’s learning to cope with the imminent loss of their matriarch, David’s journey is one that’s super resonant today. It mirrors far too many real gay experiences. That could be because its writer and director, Chris Kelly, draws largely on his own experience with, well … this exact same thing. It could also be because the performances are so honest, and the emotion isn’t forced or overly dramatic. Rather, it is presented to us as though it would be in real life. So, we just sorta have to internalize it and learn to deal with it in real time.
As David says in the movie, he always felt as though these things only happened to other people. Now, he’s our “other people.” But the sometimes almost-too-intimate glimpses we get into the inner workings of these other people makes us feel that the “other” is just a qualifier we use to avoid reality.
Moreover, David struggles with the loss of his long-time partner, who is still there for him in many ways but can no longer be there for him fully. Or in the way he longs for. David’s father still refuses to accept his sexuality, too. So, with the clock ticking away on the only person he has who is willing to listen to and accept him, David spirals. His career isn’t flowering the way he (and his mother) had hoped. He doesn’t know how to connect to his sisters. And he’s now one of the other people.
Navigating this film truly feels intense and seems impossible; I cried so hard I almost threw up. But it’ll make you feel things you never thought about feeling, and it features no talking snowmen. So … worth it.