The Rest of Us (film)

The Rest of Us is a 2019 Canadian drama film, directed by Aisling Chin-Yee. It stars Heather Graham as a single mother (to Sophie Nélisse's character), who reluctantly takes in her ex-husband's second wife and their daughter (played by Jodi Balfour and Abigail Pniowsky) as houseguests after his untimely death leaves his new family homeless.

The Rest of Us
Film poster
Directed by	Aisling Chin-Yee
Written by	Alanna Francis
Produced by	Emma Fleury Katie Bird Nolan Lindsay Tapscott William Woods
Starring	Heather Graham Jodi Balfour Sophie Nélisse Abigail Pniowsky
Cinematography	Daniel Grant
Edited by	Véronique Barbe Aisling Chin-Yee
Production companies	Babe Nation Films Woods Entertainment
Distributed by	levelFILM
Release date	September 6, 2019 (2019-09-06) (TIFF)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English

It premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival,^[1] and was acquired by levelFILM for Canadian distribution.^[2]

Cast

• Heather Graham as Cami Hayes
• Sophie Nélisse as Aster
• Abigail Pniowsky as Talulah
• Jodi Balfour as Rachel
• Charlie Gillespie as Nathan
• Tameka Griffiths as Gabby

Production

The film was shot in North Bay, Ontario in 2018.^[3]

Critical reception

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92%, based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10.^[4]

The Hollywood Reporter's Sheri Linden praised the film as "sharply written and sensitively played."^[5] NOW Magazine's Norman Wilner called it "a small, delicate drama—maybe too small, since the 80-minute running time has the effect of compressing certain emotional beats," but concluded, "It’s not a bad thing when a film leaves you wishing it were longer."^[6] Exclaim!'s Alex Hudson agreed that the short runtime didn't benefit the story, but wrote, "As a small-scale examination of a unique form of grief, it packs a lot of emotional complexity into a small package."^[7]