Film Review: People Places Things

What’s it about?

Will Henry (Jemaine Clement) is a graphic novelist whose life is pretty much falling apart. He becomes a single dad to his twin daughters and spends the movie navigating how to be a good father, how to let go and how to let love in. It sounds super sweet…BECAUSE IT IS.

What I appreciate:

I am a sucker for a quirky feel good movie. People Places Things fits that criteria and even more than that it made me laugh out loud and smile widely at the end. The thing I appreciate the most about this film is the presence of two goddesses REGINA EFFIN' HALL and JESSICA MOTHEREFFIN' WILLIAMS. Regina Hall and Jessica Williams play Diane and Kate, respectively, and are just awesome. They have their own narratives and (YES IT’S TRUE) their own sense of agency. They aren’t a pair of “blackwomen manicpixiedreamrobots” at all, which is so satisfying.

I also appreciate Jemaine Clement. I mean… he’s just funny as hell and is humor is effortless. It was also evident how well he connected with the twin actresses who play his daughters. If you’re a sucker for dads playing with kids you will swoon while watching this movie.

What’s triggering?

I must say I wasn’t incredibly perturbed by anything in this movie so….I’ll talk about one more thing I appreciate. It is refreshing to watch a film where an “interracial relationship” takes shape that doesn’t actually become the meaning of the film. The characters are so well developed in this film that you can truly see all of their dynamics and the relationships that build have less to do about race and more to do about compatibility and love.

I truly appreciated that a filmic relationship between different races wasn’t pigeon held into the narrative of strife, agony, hyper sexuality or cultural appropriation. I did not see one instance when a character attempted to emulate “black culture” as a means of “identifying” with their partner.

Let’s just say swoon.

Should you see it?

YES. YES. YES. Perhaps like me you will feel that this movie is too short and IT IS. But it isn’t a waste of time, it’s just a little trip to a quirky paradise that I am sure you will never want to leave.