An intense and moving drama, anchored by superb playing from a stellar cast.

Some of my favorite films are the ones that could easily be a play.  This means that in order to be sensational you need quality acting and a quality script.  This film has both in spades.  On the surface this film is about how a family deals with Alzheimer's but when you dig deeper there are layers upon layers of story.  I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. 

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Overstays its welcome, but the acting is terrific, and the screenplay sporadically excellent

The debut film of writer/director Elizabeth Chomko, partly based on her own experiences with her grandmother, What They Had depicts a family trying to deal with the horrors of Alzheimer's. Very much in the tradition of films such as Richard Eyre's Iris (2001), Sarah Polley's Away From Her (2006), and Richard Glatzner and Wash Westmoreland's Still Alice (2014), What They Had attempts to avoid becoming too lachrymose by finding humour in the condition and focusing on how the family are ultimately brought together rather than torn apart. It's not perfect, of course, running a good ten minutes too long and straying into melodrama more than once, but for all that, it's still a fine film, with some fantastic writing, and a superb cast doing exceptionally truthful work.

For my complete review, please visit: https://boxd.it/EMQb7