Film Review: ALONE TOGETHER (2022): A Drama with Comic Touches That Captures the Essence of Pandemic Times

Alone Together Review

Alone Together (2022) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Katie Holmes and starring Katie Holmes, Jim Sturgess, Derek Luke, Melissa Leo, Becky Ann Baker, Nikki Delmonico, Spenser Granese, Thomas Hatz, Mike Iveson, Luke Kirby, Sandra Lucas, Zosia Mamet and Tanner Pastore.

Katie Holmes stars in, wrote and directed the new pandemic-inspired film, Alone Together, which is one of the more interesting and relevant films to come out recently. It will certainly hit close to home for many viewers who experienced the lock down in the New York area. While the movie oversimplifies some key elements of the story line for dramatic effect, Holmes is absolutely electrifying in her nuanced performance while her co-stars, Jim Sturgess, Derek Luke and Melissa Leo are all at the top of their game even if, for the latter two, their roles are only a small portion of the picture.

The very versatile Katie Holmes and Derek Luke appeared in the 2003 independent movie about family, Pieces of April, and it’s great to see them back making a movie together after all these years that is also about real relationships and family. Alone Together is also a film reflective of what has happened during the passage of time between the two films with the latest movie dramatizing both the devastating and more casual effects of the COVID-19 lock downs.

Holmes portrays a New York food critic named June who is right in the center of the chaos that occurred in the middle of March 2020 as the movie starts. She wants to meet with her significant other John (Luke) in order to escape the current circumstances which are truly impacting the entire country. June is headed to a getaway home upstate but because the place is accidentally overbooked, she encounters a man named Charlie (Sturgess) who just happens to be about her age. Charlie is a mechanic by trade but because of the lock down (and other reasons), he cannot simply vacate the premises which kicks the picture’s plot into motion.

In a key plot development, John must stay put in order to be with his parents and cannot go to be with June. This propels the development of the characters, June and Charlie, as they slowly bond in the middle of the unfortunate circumstances they find themselves right in the middle of. June and Charlie start to learn things about each other and bond while the movie surrounds them with details regarding how COVID-19 has affected the city and how people’s lives have been drastically impacted with some people having lost their lives altogether due to the impact of the virus.

Because it’s a tough subject to portray and it happened so recently, Holmes put herself in a tight spot by making this film. She overcomes the obstacles telling a story like this can face. For one, she is definitely sensitive to portraying the material the movie chooses to bring to life. Holmes’ screenplay is delicate and earnest in nature. Of course, she cheats a bit because what if the man she found in her home wasn’t attractive or wasn’t smart enough to hold a good conversation? Then, it probably wouldn’t have been a worthy enough story to make a movie about.

A plot about two people learning to live with each other during the pandemic was told in the movie from last year called Together but Alone Together is a bit of a better film, if just by a small notch. That’s because of the remarkable character transformation that June goes through during the course of the movie. As played by Holmes, the June we meet at the beginning is much different from the one we see at the end. It’s a credit to Holmes as an actress that she plays her role so remarkably on point.

For some, the threat of COVID-19 made people realize what’s truly important in life and the characters in Holmes’ film are affected in such a way that they have a whole new outlook on life by the end of the movie. This new film doesn’t shy away from difficult topics such as death and tragedy and although you may go in expecting a love story, you’re going to get a whole lot more from the picture than that. The complexity of the themes is very admirable and Holmes touches on some difficult ground quite well.

I like the contrast between Holmes’ and Sturgess’ characters. Holmes’s June is a food critic while Charlie restores motorcycles. By making the characters opposites in terms of their professions, the movie can show just how the pandemic impacted all types of people and, in some cases, made people from different walks of life learn to accept each other due to the lock down that occurred. Fear of the unknown was present at the time and the movie definitely gets the message across of how that concept affects the lead characters.

The supporting cast includes Melissa Leo as Charlie’s mom. Leo does not disappoint in her performance here. There are touching moments drawn from the interaction of these two characters that make the film work even better as a whole. Leo, always vulnerable and charismatic as an actress, adds depth to what could have been a cliched character in a lesser movie.

Alone Together is a constant reminder that we’re more similar than different (especially when an event effects us all equally) but the film also keeps us reminded that we are all unique in our own personal wants and desires even though we do share the same space. It’s a movie that is important and that is recommended viewing.

Rating: 7.5/10

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