''Relative'' is a 2022 American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

feature film written and directed by Michael Glover Smith. The film is about a family reunion centered on a college graduation party in Chicago. It premiered at the 2022 Gasparilla International Film Festival in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

where actor Cameron Scott Roberts won the Grand Jury award for Best Performance.

Plot

Karen Frank and her husband, David, are retirement-age progressive activists who have lived in the same Victorian home in Chicago’s

Rogers Park Rogers Park is the first of Chicago's 77 community areas. Located from the Loop, it is on the city's far north side on the shore of Lake Michigan. The neighborhood is commonly known for its cultural diversity, lush green public spaces, early ...

neighborhood for 30 years. It’s the house in which their four children grew up and where two of their children, adult sons Benji and Rod, still live. On the eve of Benji’s graduation from college, daughters Evonne and Norma return home from out-of-state for a weekend celebration. Evonne brings her daughter, Emma, and newly separated wife, Lucia; Norma arrives alone, with thoughts of wasted potential as she reconsiders her suburban life; Rod, an unemployed burnout, pines for Sarah, the “cam girl” ex who left him years ago; and all Benji wants to do is escape the party to rendezvous with Hekla, a free-spirited actress he met the night prior. As David and Karen announce the potential sale of their home, each member of the Frank family finds their bonds with the others being tested – and strengthened – in surprising ways.

Background and production

It was announced in 2021 that the film was being produced by

Newcity Newcity is a media company based in Chicago, founded in 1986 by Brian and Jan Hieggelke." It started as the ''Newcity'' independent, free weekly newspaper in Chicago. Effective March 2017, the founders changed the newspaper into a glossy monthly ...

/Chicago Film Project and would star ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 for ...

Wendy Robie Wendy Robie is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Nadine Hurley in David Lynch's television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991) and the prequel film '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992). She also starred in two of Wes Cr ...

and

Steppenwolf Theater Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on H ...

Ensemble member

Francis Guinan Francis V. Guinan Jr. (born November 17, 1951) is an American film, television and stage actor who is perhaps best known for his role as Edgar Teller the patriarch in the short-lived series ''Eerie, Indiana''. The Council Bluffs, Iowa-born actor h ...

. In an interview with ''Split-Tooth Media'', Smith said, " l of my films are really about love, which is the only subject that interests me". He noted that the inspiration for ''Relative'' was to stretch himself as a writer/director by examining, for the first time, familial relationships, which he claimed "are a lot more complicated than the ones you have with a friend or a romantic partner". Smith also cited, as influences, films such as

Arnaud Desplechin Arnaud Desplechin (; born 31 October 1960) is a French film director and screenwriter. In 2016, he won the César Award for Best Director for ''My Golden Days'' (2015). Life and career Desplechin was born in Roubaix. He is the son of Robert and ...

's ''

A Christmas Tale ''A Christmas Tale'' (french: link=no, Un conte de Noël) is a 2008 French comedy-drama film by Arnaud Desplechin, starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Mathieu Amalric, Anne Consigny, Melvil Poupaud, Emmanuelle Devos and Chiara Ma ...

'',

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

's ''

Late Spring is a 1949 Japanese drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu and written by Ozu and Kogo Noda, based on the short novel ''Father and Daughter'' (''Chichi to musume'') by the 20th-century novelist and critic Kazuo Hirotsu. The film was written and s ...

'' and

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

's ''How Green Was My Valley''. ''Relative'' was shot over a span of two weeks in the summer of 2021 in Chicago and the near-north suburbs.

Cast

as Karen Frank *

as David Frank * Cameron Scott Roberts as Benji Frank * Clare Cooney as Evonne Frank * Keith D. Gallagher as Rod Frank * Emily Lape as Norma Frank * Melissa DuPrey as Lucia Aguirre * Elizabeth Stam as Hekla

Release

The film received a limited theatrical release beginning on June 8, 2022. It was the 23rd highest grossing movie in the U.S. during its first week in release.

Reception

''Relative'' has received very positive reviews for its writing, acting, and directing. This includes a three-and-a-half (out of four) star review by the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'''

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

who called it "a wickedly funny, occasionally poignant and authentic-to-its-core drama/comedy about three eventful days in the life of a totally relatable extended family", a three (out of four) star review by '' RogerEbert.com'''s

Matt Zoller Seitz Matt Zoller Seitz (born December 26, 1968) is an American film and television critic, author and film-maker. Career Matt Zoller Seitz is editor-at-large at RogerEbert.com, and the television critic for '' New York'' magazine and Vulture.com, as ...

who compared it to the work of British filmmaker

Mike Leigh Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design ...

, and a 7.5/10 star review by Ray Lobo at '' Film Threat''. Matt Fagerholm, writing at ''Indie Outlook'', called it "one of the year's best films". As of October 2022,

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

shows an approval rating of 100%, based on twelve reviews.

Awards

External links

''Relative''
at IMDb
''Relative''
at Letterboxd
Official trailer
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

*
Classic Chicago Magazine
' interview with Smith

References

{{Reflist 2020s English-language films 2022 comedy films 2022 drama films 2022 films 2022 LGBT-related films American comedy films American drama films American LGBT-related films American romantic comedy-drama films Films set in Chicago Films shot in Chicago Lesbian-related films LGBT-related romantic comedy-drama films 2020s American films