Nimbly avoiding the excesses of melodrama and the recessiveness of mumblecore, Chan and his likably low-key cast navigate hairpin turns from drama to comedy to outright farce with an impressive sense of proportion.
Overview
Kyle and Jen, estranged siblings, travel from New York City to rural Pennsylvania to pack up the home of their recently deceased mother. While there, they make a discovery that turns their world upside-down. A Picture of You is a serious movie about life that gets sideswiped in the supermarket parking lot by a funny movie about death. It’s a story about family, loss, secrets, letting go, and starting anew.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
A curiously likable, entertainingly laid-back Asian-American take on all-too-familiar dysfunctional family tropes, this Kickstarter-enabled effort boldly mines farce along with sentiment.
Sensitive and understated, J.P. Chan's A Picture of You balances humor and sentiment with an instinctive hand, skillfully unearthing honest, unexpected laughs amid intense grief.
Mr. Chan's skill with actors - particularly with Ms. Mei and Mr. Pang's persuasive, easygoing banter - compensates for the story's limitations.
This disarmingly low-key genre-hybrid delivers both dramatically and comedically.
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