[projekktor id=’26242′]
The Other Half is a romantic drama written and directed by Joey Klein. It premiered at the South by Southwest Festival earlier this year and stars Tatiana Maslany, Tom Cullen, Henry Czerny, and Suzanne Clement.
Nickie Bellow (Cullen) is a self-destructive drifter, ever mourning the disappearance of his younger brother. Having abandoned a life of promise in his native UK, he has spent the inaugural years of adulthood drowning grief in alcohol and violence. By the 5th anniversary of his brother’s disappearance he has reached his nadir – fired from his menial job, he is poised once again for an aimless life. Then he meets Emily (Maslany) and the two form an immediate, inseparable bond – it is love at first sight deepened by a shared sense of sorrow. Enamored with each other, they expedite the standard rituals of a ‘normal’ relationship. Drunk on the intoxication of an accelerated young love, they consume each other ravenously, accustomed to the fleeting and transitory, untrusting of permanence. After a short amount of time, his PTSD and her bipolar disorder surface complicating their new-found intimacy. They have a connection deeper than anything they could have imagined; it’s the two of them against the world. For Nickie and Emily, time does not heal all wounds, but could real love indeed conquer all?
“The Other Half explores a prolonged grief and a mental illness that both intensify rather than deteriorate over time,” Klein explains. “I wanted to examine how two sick animals sniff each other out and protect each other; how trauma informs love; where a sort of pathological need to save someone is engendered. Above all, I wanted to look at what real hope and commitment looked like for two people who are madly in love, but burdened beyond repair.”
The Other Half is rated 14A.
