Tribeca Festival Review: ‘All That We Love’ is a Touching Look at Dealing with Grief

I wasn’t planning to review or even watch All That We Love when I first came across its Tribeca Festival synopsis. “Following the death of the family dog” is an excellent way to get a hard pass from yours truly. However, playing a hunch that it wouldn’t be exploitative or try for check tears, I gave the flick a chance. Lo and behold, it wound up being amusing, touching, and containing a low-key brilliant final shot that took my breath away.

That All That We Love is effective to me is fairly notable, since I’m particularly sensitive to how the film literally begins. Still, this is the rare movie to take an animal death (thankfully depicted offscreen) and make it narratively essential. For lack of a better term, the death is earned, especially in how the aftermath and grief are treated with respect. Kudos.

Emma (Margaret Cho) has just lost Tanner, the beloved family dog. Her home is now empty, with ex-husband Andy (Kenneth Choi) in Singapore pursuing an acting career, and daughter Maggie (Alice Lee) out of the house. Attempting to navigate this grief with her best friend Stan (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), also dealing with a loss, she begins to make everyone’s lives a bit chaotic, including her own.

First, she learns that Andy has returned home and has moved in with his Youtube star sister Raven (Atsuko Okatsuka). Then, Maggie tells her that she’s moving to Australia with her boyfriend (Devon Bostick). Emma is also a nightmare at work, where she even manages to both bond with and also concern colleague Kayla (Missi Pyle), who fosters animals and has one in mind for her. There are a lot of themes at play here, including family and friendship, but the most effective one depicted is the bond we form with our pets.

Margaret Cho gets to deliver touching work here, especially when she’s dealing with grief over her late dog. She also has lovely chemistry with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who gets to give some different shades to a stock best friend character. Kenneth Choi and Alice Lee present a family dynamic that upends expectations as well. Especially with Choi, his character turns out much differently than you’d initially bank on. The same goes for Missi Pyle, albeit in a smaller role. In addition to the aforementioned Devon Bostick and Atsuko Okatsuka, supporting cast members include Betsy Baker, Ashley Rae Spillers, and more. This is very much Cho’s show though, and she’s great, in particularly in the sadder moments.

Filmmaker Yen Tan has a soft touch, never going too deep on the comedy or the drama. The screenplay, credited to Clay Liford and Tan, has fun little observations, but takes grieving seriously. The direction is simple yet often elegant, helping make All That We Love land effectively. If I cared more about the dog than the family element, that’s just personal preference. Plus, the aforementioned final shot is devastatingly effective, as well as one that I’ll never forget.

All That We Love really comes together at the end. Now, I’m sensitive to one element of the film, being the owner of a senior dog, but the whole package is mostly lovely. This movie does have some potential to break out beyond Tribeca, though all of that remains to be seen. As a festival dramedy on its own merits? It’s well worth a recommendation.

SCORE: ★★★