Be careful - this film might just break your heart !
It took me a while to warm to this, totally unspectacular and unpolished as it first appears. It just observes a family's interactions as the mother is slowly dying from cancer, with the focus on the young gay son who has come back home to help look after her. At times it feels hardly like a 'movie', there is such a sense of simple observation. There were moments where it almost seemed to be a documentary and I felt like I was eavesdropping on a real family's real pain and grief. Increasingly I became aware of the film being rich with ever-so-subtle elements, easily missed, gradually deepening an atmosphere of great authenticity. It is a sad film, but also (astonishingly) with a wonderful sense of wry humour and real warmth. A million miles away from Hollywood, this gem could be easily overlooked. Don't !
