Introduction:
Chosen is a drama film of 2024 starring Sarah Polley who has amazed the audience with her submitted directorial talents in the sphere of movies. It covers family values, personal identity, and friendships and, based on the case, people’s interactions and trust rather than blood relationships. Chosen Family features Janelle Monáe, Ben Whishaw, and Awkwafina among others, Following the lives of the friends that provide each other bounds of support and acceptance, the family as a concept evolves into a more contemporary one in this picture. Chosen Family is a sincere and loving film that combines an emotional story and great acting and finds its place within the independent and LGBT-heavy market that wants its protagonists to feel understood.
Release Date:
Chosen Family had its world debut at the Toronto International Film Festival on the 8th of September 2024 and in theatres on the 11th of October 2024. It eagerly awaited its premise and the list of A-List celebrities in its cast.
Crew:
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Director | Heather Graham |
| Producer | Chad A. Verdi, Michelle Verdi, Chad Verdi Jr., Andre Relis, Michael Nickels, Paul Luba, Anthony Gudas |
| Story Writer | Heather Graham |
| Editor | Susana Benaim |
| Music Director | Andre Smith Dj, Dummy |
Cast:
| Character | Actor/Actress |
|---|---|
| Ann | Heather Graham |
| Clio | Julia Stiles |
| Roz | Andrea Savage |
| Max | Thomas Lennon |
| Alfred | Michael Gross |
| Steve | John Brotherton |
| Todd | Mark Famiglietti |
| Frances | Odessa Rae |
| Lilly | Ella Grace Helton |
| Risa | Chelsea Vale |
| Dorothy | Julie Halston |
| Rolando | Tom DeNucci |
| Festival Attendee | Brittany Toczko |
| Announcer Chad | Chad A. Verdi Jr. |
| Rehab Patient | David Torres Jr. |
Story:
The story is about a group of gay men of color who had fostered their own family because of hardships in society and individual issues. The film primarily focuses on three central characters: Maya (Janelle Monáe) the bespoke activist, the struggling artist Oliver (Ben Whishaw) Kim (Awkwafina) who is a single mother who barely earns a living.
Key Plot Points
- Maya’s Activism: Sequence one finds Maya planning and leading a protest against erasure and gentrification in their block. Her passion for work in social justice issues is compelling, but overwhelming at the same time, which is a pretty accurate representation of Angela Yee’s character as she seeks to discover how much she can take when she takes up a demanding social justice cause.
- Oliver’s Struggles: Oliver is an artist: and a frightened man with a dread of failure at that. He draws comfort in his friendship but is gradually becoming socially detached as he churns through his creative path.
- Kim’s Challenges: She has returned home from work to take care of her children and still attempts to chase after her dreams. It presents her with financial challenges that make her force a lot of pressure on her friendship.
- Building Connections: In the course of the movie the characters have struggles within them and they turn to their friends for help. Both characters grow closer during the episodes that seem to represent such feelings and emotions of the lovers.
- Climactic Moments: The end action of the film is that the movie has been slowly driving toward potentially transformational scenes when every character is forced to come to terms with their choices and what it means to be a family whether by nature or choice.
They both love, struggle, and endure and depict how everyone can find a new and positive meaning of family and belonging.
Review:
Chosen Family has been well acclaimed for both writing and acting. Most of them have commented on its compelling drama and realistic characters and found some flaws in the movie’s tempo.
Positives:
- Emotional Resonance: I believe that by exploiting the modern approach to relationships and love, the movie lets the audience empathize with each character’s experience.
- Strong Performances: Phone Booth This scene is one of the few occasions where Janelle Monáe gets to stretch her legs as an actress in the movie Robopocalypse; she played the role of Maya. Ben Whishaw does a good job as Spider, and Awkwafina makes a welcome return and helps flesh out the movie’s story.
- Relevant Themes: The representation of the chosen family is timely and possible complications related to it are easily relatable to a modern viewer if they went through such problems themselves.
Negatives:
- Pacing Issues: A few observers commented that some video segments seemed to drag, and that was bearable, even detrimental to attention.
- Predictable Plot Elements: But let’s look at the plot details The story feels familiar which may be common for fans of secret/ensemble dramas However certain parts of the story may feel a little too predictable to the plot.
- Character Development: While creating the main characters, the audiences completely immerse themselves in their personalities, some side characters remain not very developed.
Technical Aspects:
Including the opening and closing scenes, Chosen Family lasts about 115 minutes, more than enough to fully reveal the characters and their potential for growth or change, as well as to build the themes.
- Cinematography: The film covers both the beauty of cities and tender scenes between the characters, thanks to the director of photography, Natasha Braier. It becomes easier to convey the mood that natural lighting is required because that helps create a real emotional experience for viewers.
- Direction: Sarah Polley brought that humor I mentioned earlier, and the emotional aspect of the movie into focus as director. She very effectively sets up an exciting environment, that lets the viewers empathize with the character’s struggles at the same time establishing the tense atmosphere.
- Editing: The editing deserves a steady speed, but sometimes, the cohesiveness with the scenes is struggling. Some sequences could use better editing to moderate between scenes.
Performance:
- Janelle Monáe as Maya: Janelle Monáe gives an excellent performance in portraying Maya. While staying true to her character’s enthusiasm for activism, she has to deal with less clear emotions of friendship and duty successfully. COPELAND: Monáe, once again, shines through her portrayal of the subtext of deep emotional suffering in the character arc of Maya throughout the entire movie.
- Ben Whishaw as Oliver: Ben Whishaw did a marvelous job portraying Oliver, the exterior and the internal man. It helps depict a growing Oliver who tries to manage their relations with his friends and face his fears.
- Awkwafina as Kim: Being Kim, Awkwafina delivers a good performance. She also makes the atmosphere tense as she is conflicted with her insecurity issues while friend-zoning her friends in that ordeal.
- Supporting Cast: There are fine supporting deeds that make an impression within the film; however, there are characters that do not have enough prominence for a viewer to truly empathize with.
Moviepoptime Review:
Character development is where this film excels in my opinion However the plot was somewhat unoriginal. The term ‘chosen family’ is a strong one and I liked that the movie did not go overboard with it as well. It was a good show, the cast did a pretty good job in making their characters seem real. As for cinematography there was not much done that was new and spectacular but the visuals served their purpose. The only thing I would change would be that certain tropes of the indie-drama might have been further dissected with some of the themes presented.
Conclusion:
Chosen Family can be neatly encompassed as one of the most interesting attempts to portray love and endurance changed into an ensemble drama. The outstanding actors, and the use of different styles of presentation, help it address problems related to friends and keep audiences engaged from beginning to end.
It might be slow at times and at this point, it does get quite cliché for an ensemble drama, but amongst all the figures, it does a good job of capturing psychological issues that are all associated with socio-political issues. They accompanied the movie with humor and provided a way to think through the problems of people wanting love in hardships.
Therefore, Chosen Family is highly recommended for anyone interested primarily in the idiosyncrasies of characters’ narratives and coping mechanisms. Availability on streamers ensures that It reaches the remote audience that is thirsty for content that challenges the norms of modern relationships. While watching Maya seek her transformation and fight complex emotions viewers are provided with questions related to family ties and thus watching friendship is more about family in this world built where love and choice determine who your family is.
Also Read: Seven Cemeteries Movie Review