When their family’s patriarch loses a harrowing battle against a fatal disease, Suzanne (Andie MacDowell) and her middle-aged sons, Nicholas (Chris O’Dowd) and Chris (James Adomian), must navigate through their increasingly unstable lives without his support. Over the course of several years, their family must endure an emotional gauntlet of domestic hardships. They face painful break-ups, failed careers, and dangerously concealed depression. Through it all, one essential truth remains: even without a father figure’s presence, a family’s bond is the most important thing of all.

With shades of John Cassavetes and Kenneth Lonergan, director/co-writer Russell Harbaugh’s Love After Love cuts to the core of what it takes to recover from the most intimate tragedies: losing a beloved family member. Funny without overplaying its comedy and touching minus fits of melodrama, Love After Love hums with universality and the everyman charms of average people overcoming life’s emotionally grandiose obstacles.

—Cara Cusumano