Boland’s skills are on full display, thrice
Effectively playing a character on screen is hard. Effectively playing two characters on screen is harder. Directing yourself playing two characters on screen is lunacy! Well, lets officially jot down Katie Boland as an artistic risk-taker because she writes, directs, and stars in dual roles in We’re All In This Together. Did I mention it’s also her feature film directorial debut? The list of accomplishments we can attribute to this project are endless, and should be celebrated, even if the end result isn’t fully emotionally gratifying or cinematically coherent. We’re All In This Together (or WAITT, henceforth) is a lean family drama that juggles too many themes and side plots to successfully fit within a short 85 minute running time, but Boland’s devotion to the filmmaking craft and her on screen performance nevertheless emerge strong.
Based on the novel by Amy Jones, WAITT centers around the Parker family, consisting of a dementia-battling mother, Kate (Martha Burns), adversarial twin sisters Nicki and Finn (Boland, playing both), a teenage granddaughter, Paris (Alisha Newton), and Nicki’s son, Berlin (Max Winter). Kate barely survives a plunge over a waterfall in a barrel, and when the video of the incident goes viral, the children must reunite and overcome their dysfunction and trauma in order to salvage any semblance of whatever real family is still left. Tonally, WAITT shifts on a dime from scene to scene; the quirky oddness of the barrel incident and an amusingly awkward sexual intro to Finn’s character are quickly challenged by harsh insults, confusing intros to characters from the twin sisters’ pasts, and a catfishing side plot involving Paris. It’s hard to argue against any one of the driving themes being a relevant topic to explore (catfishing, substance abuse, teenage pregnancies, etc.), but the combination of so many ideas leads to editing disarray. The serious subject matter also challenges Boland to write bitingly nasty dialogue while balancing moments of levity. Unfortunately, both the editing and the timing of the jokes fall flat, so what’s left is a series of cringe-inducing family arguments that don’t seem to be heading towards a third act until very close to the film’s final moments.
Technically, however, the film does an impressive job integrating footage of the two Boland characters together, though some sequences are more obviously blocked than others, with the intention to only see one character’s face, or ensure they don’t overlap on screen. For a small indie film, it’s well executed. And for a small indie film, Boland is shooting for the stars. She plays Finn’s emotional disconnect with a quiet, sulking, sadness that directly rivals Nicki’s brash and resentful forwardness. All the characters are easily distinguishable, and their tensions bounce off each other, which is where the movie shines brightest. But there are a lot of clashes and not a lot of forward progress in the story, so ultimately the film is too messy to stay invested in its emotional arcs. Boland’s dual performances and directorial artistic efforts will be what I–and audiences–remember most, even if the story details get forgotten.
—————————-
We’re All In This Together is currently screening at film festivals nationwide.
