''The Other Half'' is a 2016 Canadian romantic

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

, written and directed by Joey Klein. It stars

Tatiana Maslany Tatiana Gabriele Maslany ( ; born September 22, 1985) is a Canadian actress. She rose to prominence for playing multiple characters in the science fiction thriller television series ''Orphan Black'' (2013–2017), which won her a Primetime Emmy ...

Tom Cullen Thomas Cullen (born 17 July 1985) is a Welsh actor and director. He had roles in the independent film ''Weekend (2011 film), Weekend'' (2011), as Anthony Foyle, Viscount Gillingham in the television series ''Downton Abbey'', and as Sir Landry ...

Henry Czerny Henry Czerny ( ; born February 8, 1959) is a Canadian stage, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''The Boys of St. Vincent, Mission: Impossible, Clear and Present Danger, The Ice Storm, The Exorcism of Emily Rose,' ...

, and

Suzanne Clément Suzanne Clément (born 12 May 1969) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her work in Xavier Dolan's arthouse films ''I Killed My Mother'' (2009), '' Laurence Anyways'' (2012), and '' Mommy'' (2014). With Emilie DeQuenne, she shared the Un Ce ...

. The film had its world premiere at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

on 12 March 2016.

Premise

A bipolar woman and grief-stricken man struggle to live a simple life.

Cast

as Emily *

as Nickie *

as Jacob *

as Marie *

Mark Rendall Mark Rendall (born October 21, 1988) is a Canadian film, television and voice actor whose roles include the lead in the 2004 film, ''Childstar'' and Mick in season 1 of the Canadian television drama series ''ReGenesis''. He played Bastian Bux i ...

as Sammy * Diana Bentley as Kristin *

Deragh Campbell Deragh Campbell is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her acclaimed performances in independent Canadian cinema. Her collaborations with filmmaker Sofia Bohdanowicz—'' Never Eat Alone'' (2016), '' Veslemøy's Song'' (2018), '' ...

as Anna * Nancy Palk as Katherine * Kaleb Alexander as Johnny * Zachary Hillard-Forde as Tommy *

Emmanuel Kabongo Emmanuel Kabongo (born December 25, 1986) is a Canadian actor and producer. Born and raised in Zaire before it became the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kabongo immigrated to Canada with his family in the 1990s. He began his acting career as a ...

as Officer James

Production

In July 2015, it was revealed that Joey Klein would write and direct the film, with

, Deragh Campbell, and

starring in the film.

Release

The film had its world premiere at

on 12 March 2016.

Mongrel Media Mongrel Media is an independent Canadian film distributor established in 1994 by Hussain Amarshi. It is the exclusive Canadian theatrical distributor for Sony Pictures Classics, Neon, and Lionsgate and titles from A24, Amazon Studios, Saban Film ...

distributed the film in Canada, releasing it on 2 December 2016.

Reception

The film received positive critical reviews. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

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 ...

, it has an approval rating of 78% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said that the film is "a granular depiction of trauma, illness and protectiveness disguised as a love story and guided by a pair of intense portrayals", and that, "as it plays out, it’s only a hard road for these swept-up, damaged lovers, whom Klein and his actors treat with blessedly non-exploitative honesty." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote, "What might have seemed pro forma on paper overcomes its occasionally studied stylistic tics to become a troubled, anguished love story that neither exaggerates nor soft-pedals the demons on display." The ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' praised Klein, saying that he "creates a mood of tension, foreboding and sombre reflection through occasional moments of slo-mo and camera work that blurs reality. His literate script offers no easy resolution, only the faint hope that love can rescue two lost souls."

References

External links

* *
The Other Half
' at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Other Half, The (2016 film) 2016 films English-language Canadian films Canadian romantic drama films Films directed by Joey Klein 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films