Park Pictures

Jesse Plemons shines as a son nursing his mother (Molly Shannon) through her final year. A sensitive look at a man's long goodbye to his dying mother, Chris Kelly's Other People understands that even primal grief and fear can't always squeeze out mundane self-obsession. Ably playing the loving son, a comedy writer quietly worrying that his life is falling apart even without having Mom's cancer in the picture, Jesse Plemons delivers on the promise he has shown in so many supporting roles since his Friday Night Lights breakthrough; Molly Shannon, making a terminally-ill two-fer after last year's similarly themed Sundance gem Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, shoulders a heavy dramatic load gracefully. Funny enough to help viewers cope with its downer theme but certainly not an outright comedy, the debut has a reasonably broad appeal and leaves little doubt that Kelly, a vet of SNL and short-form comedy films, can handle himself on the big screen. Watch the video here.