What They Had

Name: What They Had
Director: Elizabeth Chomko
Released: 2018

Elizabeth Chomko

2018

Synopsis

A woman must fly back to her hometown when her Alzheimer's-stricken mother wanders into a blizzard. The return home forces her to confront her past.

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Recommendations

90
New York Magazine (Vulture)
There’s raw power in Chomko’s writing, but so much scrupulousness and craft that you feel safe when the time comes to weep.
90
TheWrap
Chomko doesn’t drag on a scene longer than it should be; there’s an expediency to her storytelling that gets the point across without the film feeling rushed. It’s blunt and bold, just like its characters.
83
Consequence
What They Had is an indie drama of a familiar cut, delivered so well that you’ll forgive its smaller inconsistencies.
80
Rolling Stone
At first glance, you might mistake What They Had for one of those well-meaning family dramas about what to do when your mom is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. But that would discount the exceptional accomplishment achieved by debuting director Elizabeth Chomko, enlivening her scrappy script with a cast of actors who truly are as good as it gets. You laugh as much as you cry, which means you believe in the movie’s truth.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
An excellent cast (including Michael Shannon and Hillary Swank) hit the right notes in an evenly wrought family drama that rings true.
70
Variety
Chomko mitigates a fairly heavy narrative agenda with a great deal of humor, sometimes threatening to make things a little too seriocomic, but never quite crossing the line into pat dramedy.
67
Entertainment Weekly
While it’s loaded with excellent ensemble performances and flashes of real poignancy, it can’t seem to help itself from occasionally jack-knifing into heavy-handed wrong turns that can play as clichéd or phony. It’s half of a great movie.
60
The Hollywood Reporter
It's been made with genuine feeling and smooth professional craftsmanship.