Shadows on the Wall | Miss You, Love You

Miss You, Love You

dir-scr Jim Rash
prd Kevin J Walsh, Nat Faxon, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane
with Allison Janney, Andrew Rannells, Bonnie Hunt, Suzy Nakamura, Oscar Nunez, Lisa Schurga
release US/UK 29.May.26
26/US 1h37

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Like a play, this astute comedy-drama is an extended encounter between two very different characters in a location that's seemingly cut off from the rest of world. So it offers especially meaty roles for actors Allison Janney and Andrew Rannells. Writer-director Jim Rash creates a rolling conversation that confronts powerfully resonant issues. With its intriguingly offbeat angles, the film is a punchy exploration of long-buried anger in relationships.

After his stepfather dies, far too busy author Tyler sends his assistant Jamie (Rannells) to help his estranged mother Diane (Janney) deal with the details at her isolated New Mexico home in the week before the funeral. Angry with Tyler, Diane doesn't understand why Jamie is there. She also doesn't want to admit that she likes having someone around. Eventually, their edgy banter softens as Diane finds ways to connect to her son through this stranger. But secrets emerge that create new tensions. The question is whether confronting the truth creates a path to healing.

Opening with smalltalk, Jamie is surprised that it's so cold in the desert, but Diane reminds him that this is normal for the winter. She then quizzes him about his background, knowingly picking apart his answers. Along the way, she reveals her own past, which brings up bigger emotions and helps them connect with each other over the way they both love and resent Tyler, who is only seen in family photos. The film's title refers to the sign-off Tyler uses in messages, hoping to soothe ruffled feathers.

Janney and Rannells find remarkably natural rhythms as they articulately speak to each other, skilfully revealing hidden feelings as they graze against various touchy subjects and confront each other's thoughts and actions. So without meaning to, they are opening up to a stranger. These are riveting performances, as the actors create complex people who are made up of contradictory textures, likeable even when they are at their most prickly.

As these two disparate people talk to each other, they continually touch on enormous topics, ranging from parental issues to Tyler and Jamie's sexuality. There's also a nod to religious themes as Diane navigates her late husband's faith, as his pastor (Munoz) plans the service. Meanwhile, Jamie's phone continually buzzes with Tyler's messages, feeding into exchanges that often run very hot. This is a sharply involving film packed with moments that hit us right between the eyes.

themes, language 11.May.26

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