Omeleto | THE FAMILY WE CHOSE | Omeleto @Omeleto | Uploaded October 2024 | Updated October 2024, 23 hours ago.
Two in-laws hide at a family gathering.
THE FAMILY WE CHOSE is used with permission from Justin and Kristin Schaack. Learn more at https://abovethelineentertainment.com.
Michael and Sarah are two people who married into a contentious clan. The husband of a sister and the recently married wife of a brother in the family, they hide out in the basement rec room during a holiday gathering. They don't seem to have much in common other than marrying into the same family, and they banter back and forth about Michael's cynical attitude.
But when the matriarch of the family passive-aggressively needles Sarah about having kids, they find they have more common ground than they thought. And when they both let their defenses down, they finally find the connection that makes them feel like part of the family.
Directed and written by Justin and Kristin Schaack, this dramedy short has a sharp sense of dialogue, thanks to its sarcastic, wryly witty characters. As in-laws to one another, Michael and Sarah have married into a quirky, loudly expressive family, and both are outsiders who observe their family's peccadilloes with a mixture of indulgence and annoyance. Both sublimate their feelings of being on the outside with an affectionate snarkiness, though Michael, having married into the family earlier than Sarah, has more of a seen-it-all cynicism.
The characters and their positions in the family are finely delineated, thanks to the layered writing, brought to life by warmly natural visuals and understated, lived-in performances by actors Taj Ruler and Tom Reed. As they play Sarah and Michael, respectively, they deftly capture the awkward tension of being both family members and strangers who don't seem to know what to think of one another yet. But when the mother of the family not-so-subtly pressures and belittles Sarah for not having kids yet, it allows Michael and Sarah to go deeper, sharing in the heartaches that remind us why family is important in the first place.
THE FAMILY WE CHOSE has plenty of humor relatable to anyone who's ever sought refuge from the tempests and tornadoes of family life, from the loud yet predictable arguments to the thornier conflicts and clashes over differing values, plans and perspectives. Yet ultimately its point-of-view on families is a heartwarming one, affirming that it's not just blood that bonds us, but the ways we make one another feel seen, heard and understood. By its end, it leaves us with a warmhearted, expansive feeling -- as if we were one of the family as well.
Two in-laws hide at a family gathering.
THE FAMILY WE CHOSE is used with permission from Justin and Kristin Schaack. Learn more at https://abovethelineentertainment.com.
Michael and Sarah are two people who married into a contentious clan. The husband of a sister and the recently married wife of a brother in the family, they hide out in the basement rec room during a holiday gathering. They don't seem to have much in common other than marrying into the same family, and they banter back and forth about Michael's cynical attitude.
But when the matriarch of the family passive-aggressively needles Sarah about having kids, they find they have more common ground than they thought. And when they both let their defenses down, they finally find the connection that makes them feel like part of the family.
Directed and written by Justin and Kristin Schaack, this dramedy short has a sharp sense of dialogue, thanks to its sarcastic, wryly witty characters. As in-laws to one another, Michael and Sarah have married into a quirky, loudly expressive family, and both are outsiders who observe their family's peccadilloes with a mixture of indulgence and annoyance. Both sublimate their feelings of being on the outside with an affectionate snarkiness, though Michael, having married into the family earlier than Sarah, has more of a seen-it-all cynicism.
The characters and their positions in the family are finely delineated, thanks to the layered writing, brought to life by warmly natural visuals and understated, lived-in performances by actors Taj Ruler and Tom Reed. As they play Sarah and Michael, respectively, they deftly capture the awkward tension of being both family members and strangers who don't seem to know what to think of one another yet. But when the mother of the family not-so-subtly pressures and belittles Sarah for not having kids yet, it allows Michael and Sarah to go deeper, sharing in the heartaches that remind us why family is important in the first place.
THE FAMILY WE CHOSE has plenty of humor relatable to anyone who's ever sought refuge from the tempests and tornadoes of family life, from the loud yet predictable arguments to the thornier conflicts and clashes over differing values, plans and perspectives. Yet ultimately its point-of-view on families is a heartwarming one, affirming that it's not just blood that bonds us, but the ways we make one another feel seen, heard and understood. By its end, it leaves us with a warmhearted, expansive feeling -- as if we were one of the family as well.
