The 2024 film All That We Love tells the story of a woman coping with loss. Directed by Yen Tan and starring Margaret Cho, it follows magazine editor Emma in the aftermath of her dog Tanner’s death. Already feeling lonely as an empty nester, Emma must now face changes in her relationships too. Her ex-husband Andy reappears just as daughter Maggie plans to move abroad, and best friend Stan urges Emma to get back out there.
Underneath it all, Emma grapples with grief. Tanner wasn’t just a pet; he was family, and that loss cuts deep. But through reconnecting with Andy, who understands her pain, and reminiscing about happy times with Tanner, Emma begins healing. The movie gives us a look at the complex journeys we all take after bereavement. It explores moving forward despite past hurt and finding light even when surrounded by loneliness.
With Cho’s nuanced lead, the film crafts a poignant reflection on loss. Against her career type, she brings empathy and depth to Emma’s emotional experience. In doing so, All That We Love establishes itself not just as a story about grief but as an exploration of what really matters: the connections between people and going beyond surface sadness to uncover redemption.
Many Faces of Grief
All That We Love introduces us to Emma, magazine editor and empty nester, as she grapples with loss. Her beloved dog Tanner passed away, leaving her lonely in the aftermath. Adding to her turmoil, daughter Maggie plans to stay in Australia longer than expected, while ex-boyfriend Andy suddenly reappears seeking reconciliation.
Margaret Cho brings nuanced empathy to Emma, a woman adrift and questioning her relationships. As she reflects on Tanner, we see their profound bond and how his death upends her world. Needing support, Emma leans on her best friend Stan, played perceptively by Jesse Tyler Ferguson. His character provides humor and accountability, yet he understands the grief of losing his partner, Craig.
Alice Lee and Kenneth Choi add dimension as Maggie and Andy. Emma and Maggie share a sisterly bond, making the distance difficult. Still, Maggie asserts her independence. Choi evolves Andy from a neglectful patriarch to someone seeking redemption. His interactions with Emma, exploring their history, drive insightful scenes.
As secrets surface and feelings resurface, the characters reevaluate where they stand. Andy wishes to repair ties with his daughter Maggie; this is no easy task after past damage. Maggie balances her mother’s desires with building a life with her boyfriend, Nate. Meanwhile, Stan, in his own healing process, challenges Emma’s willingness to relive past mistakes.
Through witty dialogue and layered performances, the film weaves a tapestry of interconnected trauma. By using Tanner’s passing as a metaphor for loss of stability, it grants audiences intimate access to overlapping grieving processes. We appreciate life’s fragility as careers end, relationships evolve, and family circumstances shift unexpectedly. All show with empathy life’s imperfect yet profound capacity for new beginnings through confronting difficult truths of the past.
Heartfelt Vision
Yen Tan crafts All That We Love with a directing style meant to draw audiences fully into its exploration of complex emotions. With quiet, intimate moments, he grants time to linger in Emma’s private grieving space. In scenes of reminiscing or introspection, Tan maintains distance to simply observe without intruding.
This flies in the face of some critiques deeming the film too heavy-handed. However, Tan understands grief as a process witnessed, not artificially accelerated. His choices reflect deep empathy for the subject while prioritizing emotional truth over shock value.
Complementing Tan’s vision, the cinematography by Nathan Melamed cultivates a bittersweet atmosphere. Scenes are bathed in warm, desaturated hues, suggesting melancholy reflection. Intensifying this effect, shots emphasize subjective close-ups focusing on expressive details like a dog’s collar or scribbles on photos. Music also resonates within scenes rather than rousing sentiment from without.
Through these aesthetics, All That We Love envelops viewers gently in its story rather than bludgeoning emotions. We feel Tan’s care in crafting each emotion, which feels genuine rather than manipulated. His understated approach grants audiences space to find their own insights parallel to Emma’s journey, cultivating profound empathy for her plight. The final reward comes not from artificial catharsis but from authentic human connection in understanding another’s truth. In sight and sound, Tan presents a film as heartfelt in execution as intention, prioritizing emotional nuance over melodrama.
Subtle Mastery
At the heart of All That We Love lies Margaret Cho’s sensitive lead role. Bringing empathy and insight to Emma’s emotional journey, she invites us tenderly into this woman’s private grieving world. Between nuanced line deliveries and expressive physicality, Cho ensures not a moment feels inauthentic or performative.
Her compatriot, Kenneth Choi, strongly enhances their scenes together. Exploring Andy’s evolution from neglectful parent to repentant man seeking closure, he imbues even tough conversations with compassion. Choi grants this flawed character dimension beyond surface troubles, reflecting how past wrongs linger in relationships.
As steadfast friend Stan, Jesse Tyler Ferguson plays both confidant and conscience to Cho. While entitled to skepticism about Andy’s return, Ferguson infuses understanding for the messy ways people cope with loss. His character, too, continues to heal from traumas, showing grief takes many forms.
Minor players also contribute remarkable moments. Alice Lee portrays Maggie’s independence without reducing her bond with Emma. Missi Pyle brings poignancy as coworker Kayla guides a puppy toward new hope. Atsuko Okatsuka finds wry humor in Raven without reducing her to gags alone.
Most notably, through subtle mastery, these performers ensure All That We Love feels refreshingly authentic. Their gestures of intimacy, awkwardness, and defiance feel universal rather than staged. In sharing painful yet redemptive truths about characters, the cast grants us compassion for life’s imperfect yet profound journeys toward understanding between all people in a time of need.
Melding Moments of Loss
All That We Love delves poignantly into themes of bereavement and reconciliation. With Tanner’s death serving as a loose allegory, it probes how loss shakes one’s foundation and exposes unfinished business between interconnected loved ones.
Tan handles grieving with subtle grace, granting space to simply experience Emma’s saddest private moments. But he also finds hopeful notes, showing how healthy remembrance doesn’t preclude rediscovery. Flashbacks to a vibrant Tanner complicate rather than simplify grief, acknowledging life’s messy blend of joy and heartache.
Accepting change proves the toughest for this fractured family. Emma resists Maggie outgrowing the nest, while Maggie and Andy remain estranged. Yet bonds also endure between them, as do Emma, Stan, and even Raven. Through their bond in happier times, Emma and Andy rekindle intimacy, reminding them that divisions rarely define relationships.
Tan avoids pat resolutions, realistically portraying reconciliation as an ongoing process requiring compromise. Stan serves as a grounded voice of caution but ultimately respects others’ autonomy over their healing. In exploring varied phases of acceptance, the film champions compassion over harsh judgments of oneself and others in difficult transitions.
Overall, All That We Love portrays bereavement and its ripple effects with quiet wisdom. No road map exists for grappling with life’s enormities. But through empathy and patience, families can find understanding anew in confrontation with impermanence and each other’s essential, enduring goodness. Its moving examination reminds us that with care and time, even the deepest sorrows ebb, though scars may linger and love endure.
Quiet Triumphs and Missed Opportunities
All That We Love tells its story with more heart than flaw. Cho and company imbue even lighter scenes with nuanced grieving. Their bond, reminiscing about old times with Tanner, resonates, as does Stan’s budding romance, providing a hopeful counterpoint.
Still, some detract from the whole. The Kayla subplot feels undercooked and tonally off, while Raven lacks depth beyond witty quips. A tighter edit, trimming less vital threads, could shave time spent on these while enriching stronger arcs.
Some accuse the director of mawkish excess. Yet its meditative pace permits intimacy missing in brief dog tales. Closeups lovingly framed, conveying myriad emotions behind the eyes, feel authentic, not manipulative. And the score accompanies reflective moments instead of mauling sentiments.
A few flubs, like Andy’s out-of-place cool-guy reinvention, mar what succeeds. Yet performances like Cho and Choi alchemizing complexities into compassion outweigh contrivances. And its empathy for life’s difficulty moving forward from any loss gives All That We Love soul its flaws cannot lacerate.
Overall, this proves a quietly profound character study. Not all strands gel seamlessly, but its manner of embracing messy humanity earns the grace Tan and company find for their subjects. More than outweighing shortfalls, All That We Love’s modest yet poignant triumphs linger the longest after viewing.
Finding Solace in Sadness
All That We Love tells a simple yet profound story about confronting life’s difficulties. Through Margaret Cho’s empathetic lead performance and Yen Tan’s grounded direction, it examines bereavement, family, and rediscovering oneself amidst turmoil.
The film grants audiences intimate access to one woman’s grieving process, showing loss’s rippling effects. With nuanced writing and assured direction, it illustrates how disconnects form between loved ones and heal through patience. Scenes contemplating happy memories thread sorrow with sweetness.
Above all, it reveals grief’s many roads—how life moves on despite sadness and relationships evolve. Not through false resolutions, but through an through an honest depiction of acceptance as ongoing. Its understated examination moves many to reflect on their own resilience in confronting change.
For anyone seeking respite from facing life’s crueler realities, All That We Love offers quiet solace. Not through catharsis alone, but through empathy—reminding suffering’s universality and love’s ability to nurture recovery. For its poise in tackling life’s depth and gifts of renewed compassion, its merits endure beyond a single viewing.
The Review
All That We Love
All That We Love tells a simple yet profound story about confronting life's difficulties. Through grounded performances and direction, it sensitively examines interconnected grieving processes. While not perfect, its empathetic and understated approach resonates long after.
PROS
- Nuanced lead performance by Cho
- Sensitive direction by Tan in handling difficult themes
- captures grief's rippling effects on relationships
- explores loss and finding acceptance or solitude over time
CONS
- Some minor character or plot threads feel underdeveloped
- The narrative pace drags slightly in parts
- Tone veers tonal slightly in moments
