The Adults (International, North America)
Key Cast: Hannah Gross, Michael Cera, Sophia Lillis
Director: Dustin Guy Defa
Producer: Allison Rose Carter, Hannah Dweck, Jon Read, Julia Thompson, Michael Cera, Theodore Schaefer
Screenwriter: Dustin Guy Defa
Cinematographer: Tim Curtin
Composer: Alex Weston
Siblings can drive us to the edge. This visceral car crash of love and fury revs this American indie vehicle led by Michael Cera (Cryptozoo, MIFF 2021; Barbie).
Reuniting with director Dustin Guy Defa (Person to Person, MIFF 2017) for this poignant family dramedy, Cera plays Eric, a perfectly awkward, buttoned-up thirtysomething. Returning to his hometown after a long absence, Eric initially plans a brief trip, but his schedule unspools between awkward reconnections with his sisters – the cranky Rachel (Hannah Gross, Stinking Heaven, MIFF 2015; Mindhunter) and the enthusiastic but rudderless Maggie (Sophia Lillis, I Am Not Okay With This; Asteroid City) – and increasingly competitive poker games with old acquaintances.
This slow-burn heartwarmer, which premiered at this year’s Berlinale, boasts three excellent leads who fully commit to the film’s delightful forays into memories of better days. In exchanges both tense and tender, the siblings resort to hilariously vicious cartoon-voiced fights and one particularly unforgettable interpretive-dance breakout set to an Australian 80s pop banger. Recalling The Skeleton Twins (MIFF 2014), Defa’s latest will leave you with proverbial broken bones to mend.
“An emotional scream transposed through low-decibel vocal fry – an endearing sibling drama full of cringe comedy that lands a miraculous, unexpectedly poignant ending … A raw, sensitive, and true look at a family in flux.” – IndieWire