WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW
First, the Recap:
What does love have to do with it? When in the context of a marriage (or frankly, any other form of relationship), this is a question that should never arise. We would hope that the mutually shared yearning and excitement of being with a person whom you’ve given and promised it all to would be more than evident and proven. Yet, what occurs when what was already pledged suddenly gets thrown aside?
In what appears to be a step back in time, a young woman named Kaidence (Louisa Connolly-Burnham), wife to Jeremiah (Michael Fox), has just learned an unanticipated and unsettling truth–she is about to have a new house guest in the form of a sister wife named Galilee (Mia McKenna-Bruce). An uneasy air in the home now in full effect, Jeremiah gets leaves for a potential career defining opportunity, leaving the two women to fend for themselves–and form a bond neither saw coming.
Next, my Mind:
Overt religious cultism, rigidly dogmatic expectation, unyielding patriarchal control, repressive societal conventions, and the slowly building, impassioned wonder of what has been genuinely unknown for so long being intensely reinvigorated and re-birthed all form the core explorations being exhibited through this magnificently executed short film from writer/director/producer Louisa Connolly-Burnham, producer Augusta Woods, plus executive producers M. Sean Agnew, Reno Anastasio, Kirsty Bell, Anthony & Anne Burnham, Emily Everdee, Robert Hoffman, Bollie Lee Jarratt Jr., John Kelleher, Dietmar Kuhl, Brian May, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Owen Palmiotti, Kingsley Pilgrim, Pat Potter, Shannon Prynoski, Nick Sadler, Elias Savada, Matthew J. Schroeder, Dywayne Thomas, Barry Vonk, Diana MacNeill Wegner, and Lou Wegner.
It DOES take a village when it comes to making indie cinema, and the end result here definitively, intelligently, affectingly speaks for itself. Provocative in its intent, compelling in its messages, stirring in its portrait of all-encompassing adoration and desperately longed for human re-connection, the narrative that sees two women brought together through the ingrained and inflexible realities of an undisclosed polygamous community and what manifests between them carries itself with absolutely stirring force, deliberate, fully engaging slow burn pacing, and a beautifully uncomplicated yet deeply nuanced mood that you cannot help but be swept up in. For all who’ve followed my reviews for any length of time now, you know I’ve been very transparent in stating that, in a general overall sense, films coming from the LGBTQ-based perspective are not a personal favorite focus, and so I do tend to go into them with a slightly cautionary stance.
However, when it then gets established how astutely crafted an effort is that unequivocally, artistically TRANSCENDS this foundational gist, it wins me over. Hence, THIS film becomes yet another to successfully accomplish this, leaving me and the audience with a wholly legitimate feeling of liberating joy for not only the primary characters involved, but just for the picture it conveys of escaping that which has held you prisoner for too long, knowing you are about to venture into fresh, revitalizing LIFE-affirming ardor and freedom. There is a sequence of intimacy portrayed in the film, and may I give full measure of credit to the filmmakers’ ability to display true physicality with integrity and well-choreographed imagery so as to capture and encapsulate the encounter with accessible degrees of fervor without going overboard into sheer gratuitousness. It was still a little uncomfortable for me, but NOT at ALL prohibitively so or distracting.
Thematically the film’s strengths in its writing and related character development shine forth with impactful measure, taking on the notions of burdens associated with sudden change, peer pressure, broken promises, gender inequality, loss of innocence, and existing within a highly manipulative arena while also journeying through the hesitant then growing emergence of finding common ground, tearing to break free, and fear-driven timidness vs. stalwart boldness in manner and actions. Add to all of this some, I felt anyway, very interestingly placed twists that place a whole new perspective on the women’s world they inhabit while (perhaps unintentionally) even paying a little homage to a certain film by a certain guy named Shyamalan, all converging into a finale that is maybe even expected, yet is not only apropos, but exudes the precise magnitude of cathartic exuberance that the narrative demands.
Connolly-Burnham emanates such strong but controlled ranges of quietly emotive energy that then explode into more earnest fire through her performance here as Kaidence, a woman clearly under the thumb of a society that doesn’t even respect her, much less give her chances to excel, rather made to simply obey out of fully calculated circumstances she’s restrained by. When things with her marriage at least seem good, it all gets upended when her husband takes a second “sister” wife, which threatens to tear apart an already fragile arrangement. But, when Kaidence finds herself in only Galilee’s company when Jeremiah gets summoned away, the path she takes, while at first strait-laced and filled with resentment, suddenly turns hesitantly guarded playfulness and beyond, a newfound release being discovered. The passion, the urgency, that inner emancipation is brought about with fully palpable fortitude, and how Connolly-Burnham navigates her character through this massive shift in viewpoint and emotional volatility is sincere, convincing, and a true joy to witness.
McKenna-Bruce is likewise an incredibly impressive picture of initially subdued charm, immersive uncertainty, but then fiercely yet understatedly unleashed confidence and undeniably captivating charisma through her turn as Galilee, chosen to be Jeremiah’s second wife, and therefore a new member residing within the household, much to Kaidence’s unhappiness. Not seeming to be trusted at first, Galilee’s eventual situation after her first night there breeds a commonality that brings the two women into each other’s circle much more effectively, fostering a blooming friendship filled with revelation and building attraction that culminates into something bigger than either one of them might have remotely anticipated, much less go with. The vulnerability McKenna-Bruce shows in her character’s introduction is heartbreaking in so many respects, but then we can easily become enamored with her as the scenario begins to get altered and a new actuality becomes the focus. It’s that kind of powerfully acted performance that’s both rousing, endearing, and, just like Connolly-Burnham’s, so perfectly, believably delivered.
The primary supporting role is given by Fox as Kaidence’s puritanical husband Jeremiah, a man whose devotion to the apparent faith they all cling to unquestionable drives his every word and deed, much less a newly announced decision to bring in a second wife, much to his first one’s disconcert and disappointment. Even in the face of this surprise, her confronting him with it assuredly puts him on the defensive and immediately imposing his will on Kaidence, in both a berating and belittling manner. When called away for a high level prospect he is to take on, the last thing he expects is to return home to what he does, with a reaction that MOST definitely will make you wish to have him dispatched post haste, which is a total credit to Fox’s skills on display here. Additional supporting appearances are made by Lisa O’Connor, Darcy Willison-Sloan, Jadie Rose Hobson, Dietmar Kuhl, and Augusta Woods. Watch the film in this case to learn more as to how then figure into the story.
So, in total, “Sister Wives” takes its cornerstone LGBTQ-centric theme, spreads its wings, launches into the air, and finds the updrafts to ascend to outstanding heights and glide, offering an ALL-embracing view of what everyone might wish to discover, experience, and carry forward–unbridled, unfeigned, authentic esteem, mutually shared fondness, exciting new paths to follow, and a lifetime to enjoy it TOGETHER as ONE, with NO chains to hold us down. I therefore come back to my original query above–what DOES love have to do with it? In a word, folks—-EVERYTHING!!
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
