At the beginning of the film The Reunion, two brothers descend on their ailing grandmother’s home on her birthday on the eve of committing her to a care facility. Phyllis (Mary Beth Peil) is rich, has ocean front property that has been in the family for years, and is slipping into dementia. Mike (Marc Menchaca) is the pragmatic, if forceful one who has been caring for granny and overseeing her transition to a home. Matt (Austin Amelio) is the artistic one that suspects Mike is drugging his grandmother and stealing her home. This is the story you THINK you are getting. However writer director Roland Ellis has something else in mind. The Reunion sidesteps the expected mystery and, instead leans into the mysterious for a rumination on the seemingly chaotic nature of existence.
In addition to Mike and Matt, the other guests include their sister Hannah (Annie Hamilton) and her boyfriend Alex (Jake Cannavale), along with Mike’s wife Jacqui (Emma Booth) their daughter Caroline (Delaney Quinn), and surrogate mother Clara (Ellen Toland) who is carrying a child for Mike and Jacqui. As the family reunites at the dining room table to sing Phyllis happy Birthday we get the movie’s most effective scene. It is here that Phyllis has an outburst that leads Matt to believe that granny is being drugged by Mike in a scheme to steal her estate. There is a raw intensity to this moment that stings.
From here things spiral. Descent and suspicion have been sewn. Matt intends to save Phyllis despite having no clue what he is up against. Hannah is done with family and just wants her paycheck. Mike and Jacqui are trying to maintain a calm atmosphere while they wait for their surrogate to give birth. Meanwhile the poor help, Marguerite (Karina Arroyave) and Joley (Greta Quispe) are yanked in every direction. To top it all off, the family realizes in the middle of the night that gramma Phyllis is missing from her bed. Is she really dealing with dementia or has she finally escaped?
I wanted to love The Reunion, but only ended up liking it for various reasons. The biggest problem are the strange spots in the story that are either never fully explained or that get dropped entirely. Ellis’ seems to be going for a mix of realistic drama and cosmic serendipity. He has a lot to say about the cruel, bigger picture of life. Yet he can’t resist leaving somethings to the beguiling call of the unexplained. Thank goodness we are hooked with the story and aesthetics.
Ellis shoots a great looking film. Production design by Kaili Corcoran is spot on with the Long Island look that is cluttered yet organized. Composers Rebecca Foon and Sarah Neufeld deliver a bright yet ominous score that recalls the work of Collin Stetson in The Menu to nice effect. Yet it’s Evan Jake Cohen‘s beautiful cinematography that stole the show for me. The rich ambers and muddled twilight tones were so evocative of the place and time that I felt as if I were there.
In regards to the performances, all range from adequate to outstanding. Of course, for me Mary Beth Peil‘s Phyllis was robbed of screen time as the enigmatic center of the story. Her scenes of mental breakdown and rage are harrowing and visceral. Peil turns on a dime from docile to dangerous with remarkable power.
The Reunion is a beautifully produced drama with strong performances that is ultimately, well, mysterious.
