''The Year Between'' is a 2022 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

dramedy Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film, written and directed by Alex Heller in her

feature directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

, who also stars alongside

J. Smith-Cameron Jean Isabel Smith (born September 7, 1957), credited professionally as J. Smith-Cameron, is an American actress. She spent a majority of her career in theatre but began transitioning to film and television later in life. She is known for her suppo ...

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...

Wyatt Oleff Wyatt Jess Oleff (born July 13, 2003) is an American actor, known for portraying the role of Stanley Uris in the 2017 supernatural horror film '' It'' and its 2019 sequel, as well as the role of Stanley Barber in the coming-of-age comedy-drama ...

Emily Robinson Emily Robinson (born October 18, 1998) is an American actress, director and producer. Biography Robinson began her career modeling at age six after her neighbor introduced her to Ford Models who then represented her. At the age of seven, Robin ...

, Kyanna Simone, and Rajeev Jacob. The film follows Clemence (Heller), a maladjusted collegiate dropout with bipolar disorder, who returns home to her reticent family and attempts to juggle her fractured relationships along with the everyday pressures of "

adulting Adulting is a neologism for wikt:growing up, growing up that became popular on English-speaking social media in the second half of the 2010s. American writer Kelly Williams Brown has been credited with coining the term. The term is commonly used t ...

". ''The Year Between'' premiered at the

Tribeca Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was fo ...

on June 12, 2022, where it was nominated for the Best U.S. Narrative Feature. After a minor festival tour, the film was subsequently released in the United States and Canada in limited theaters on March 3, 2023, to positive reviews, while simultaneously made available for streaming on

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

and Hoopla.

Plot

In her sophomore year at college, Clemence Miller (Heller) has alienated everyone with her erratic behavior. After incurring a manic bout of bullying, her miserable roommate, Eliza (Blim), notifies the administration and her craft store proprietress mother, Sherri (Smith-Cameron), of Clemence's disparaging attitude and mood swings. This prompts Sherri to wrangle her daughter into quitting school and compel her to begrudgingly return home, whereupon she discovers her old bedroom has been converted into a home office. Instead, she'll be "banished" to the furnished basement. Upon visiting a

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

(Buck), Clemence is diagnosed with

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

and is prescribed a regimen of medication beginning with

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...

to balance her oscillating

mania Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a mental and behavioral disorder defined as a state of abnormally elevated arousal, affect, and energy level, or "a state of heightened overall activation with enhanced affective expression together wit ...

and depression episodes, which will require experimental adjustments. Initially, she is defiant and reluctant, but an exasperated Sherri encourages her. Meanwhile, she receives a tepid welcome from the rest of the family. Her father, local

schoolteacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. wh ...

Don (Buscemi), attempts to be relentlessly positive, while her younger siblings are far less enthused. Her sister, Carlin (Robinson), fears Clemence's attributes will be imparted unto her, and thus strives to achieve high ACT scores to prevent this. Her brother, Neil (Oleff), is trepidatious about being absorbed into Clemence's unstable orbit, and retains an ambivalent attitude when in her presence. Undeterred, Clemence begins attending sessions with a

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

(Odom) and lands a job part-time at a thrift store. She forges a strained connection with co-worker Beth (Simone), and manages to stay sober from alcohol and illicit drugs. However, upon reconnecting with erstwhile partying pal, Ashik (Jacob), Clemence begins to jeopardize her progress and runs the risk of losing what little support she has left.

Cast

* Alex Heller as Clemence Miller *

as Sherri Miller *

as Don Miller *

as Neil Miller *

as Carlin Miller * Kyanna Simone as Beth * Rajeev Jacob as Ashik * Waltrudis Buck as Dr. Lismoen * Jon Hudson Odom as Dr. Madzen * Taylor Marie Blim as Eliza * Anne Hollister as Ginger * David Brown as Mikael

Release

''The Year Between'' had its world premire at the

on June 12, 2022. Heller's film was amongst those nominated for Best U.S. Narrative Feature at that year's event, although it ultimately lost out to '' Good Girl Jane''. The film then screened at the

Nashville Film Festival The Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm), held annually in Nashville, Tennessee, is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. In 2016, Nashville Film Festival received more than 6,700 submissions from ...

on October 1, 2022. At that event, Heller was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Best New Directors Feature, marking her first win for this film. On October 16, 2022, the film was screened at the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

. Alongside '' Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery'' in a tie, the two films were the recipients of the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature, presented by

Xfinity Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...

. On March 3, 2023,

Gravitas Ventures Gravitas Ventures is an independent film distribution company owned by Anthem Sports and Entertainment. The company was founded by Nolan Gallagher in Los Angeles, California in 2006 and moved its headquarters to Cleveland, Ohio in 2019, where it f ...

distributed the film in the United States and Canada in select theaters. It was simultaneously made available through VOD, on the streaming platforms

and Hoopla. The film was also screened at the

Cleveland International Film Festival The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is an annual film festival based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the largest film festival in Ohio. It was first held in 1977, showing eight films over a period of eight weeks at the Cedar Lee Theatre. It ...

on March 23, 2023, where it was nominated for the American Independents Competition. Heller was also a nominee for the Reel Women Direct Award for Excellence in Directing by a Woman. However, the latter award went to

Christine Yoo Christine Yoo is an American writer, director, producer and filmmaker. She has written and directed a romantic-comedy feature film entitled "Wedding Palace," starring Brian Tee, Kang Hye-jung, Bobby Lee, Margaret Cho, Joy Osmanski, Steve Park, Kel ...

for ''26.2 to Life'', while the former was won by ''Playing Through'' from Balbinka Korzeniowska.

Critical response

Mike McGranaghan of ''The Aisle Seat'' wrote, "A personal pet peeve is movies that use mental illness as a “quirky” personality trait for their central characters....''The Year Between'' deftly avoids all that. This is one of the most authentic depictions of bipolar disorder I've seen." Dennis Harvey from ''

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), ...

'' is equally effusive, praising Heller for maintaining a tonal balance of the subject matter: "The result is a useful mix of the pseudo-random and finely honed that refuses to hand-wring over Clem’s travails, yet simultaneously makes an upbeat case for her emerging from them intact — even if she’ll never exactly be Miss Congeniality." He also lauds the performances from the cast, and stated, " he characters areall amusing, yet free of caricature, and the prickly dynamics between them feel tart without being cynical." Nick Allen, a critic at '' RogerEbert.com'', wrote in his 3½/4-star review, that "Alex Heller pulls off a dazzling tonal high-wire act for her directorial debut"; compliments the film's dialogue as "naturally, wildly funny, without sugarcoating the issues it embraces"; and concludes, "…that a daring dramedy like this can be made, and tactfully.…It's proof of a major talent." Steven Warner of ''In Review Online'' praised Buscemi and Smith-Cameron, both of whom he stated "have arguably never delivered a bad performance in their entire careers". Rendy Jones of ''Rendy Reviews'' had a mixed reception to the film, rating it 2½/5 stars. Jones applauded Heller's "deadpan charisma"; alluded to her having "chemistry with her co-stars", especially for her acting debut; and particularly complimenting the acting ensemble of Smith-Cameron, Buscemi, Robinson, and Oleff (who portray her mom, dad, sister, and brother, respectively). On the flipside, Jones had a bad reaction to the "deplorably crass main character" and took umbrage with the screenplay, evoking unfavorable comparisons to '' Lady Bird'' (2017). He felt it was "too formulaic…reminiscent of Judd Apatow's slacker comedies". In a more scathingly negative review, Carla Hay of ''Culture Mix'' lambasts the character of Clemence, calling her an "emotional terrorist", and summarizing, "The misguided comedy/drama ''“The Year Between”'' is an irritating slog that offensively uses bipolar disorder as an excuse for the central character to be cruel and toxic to everyone around her."

Accolades

, - , rowspan="3" style="text-align:center; , 2022 , style="text-align:center; ,

, style="text-align:center; , Founders Award — Best U.S. Narrative Feature , rowspan="5" style="text-align:center; , Alex Heller , , , - , style="text-align:center; ,

, style="text-align:center; , Grand Jury Prize — Best New Directors Feature , , , - , style="text-align:center; ,

, style="text-align:center; , Audience Choice Award — Best Feature (TIE) (with '' Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery'') , , , - , rowspan="2" style="text-align:center; , 2023 , rowspan="2" style="text-align:center; ,

, style="text-align:center; , Reel Women Direct Award , , rowspan="2" , , - , style="text-align:center; , American Independents Competition , , -

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Year Between, The 2022 films 2022 independent films 2022 directorial debut films American black comedy films Films set in Illinois Films about dysfunctional families Films about mental health Films about bipolar disorder Films about drug use in the United States