Before You Know It

Showings

O Cinema South Beach Fri, Sep 13, 2019 7:00 PM
O Cinema South Beach Sat, Sep 14, 2019 3:00 PM
O Cinema South Beach Sat, Sep 14, 2019 7:00 PM
O Cinema South Beach Sun, Sep 15, 2019 3:00 PM
O Cinema South Beach Sun, Sep 15, 2019 7:00 PM
O Cinema South Beach Mon, Sep 16, 2019 7:00 PM
O Cinema South Beach Tue, Sep 17, 2019 7:00 PM
O Cinema South Beach Thu, Sep 19, 2019 7:00 PM

Description

In 1993 New York City, dysfunctional co-dependent sisters discover that the mother they thought had died when they were young is alive and starring on a popular daytime soap opera.

 

Stage manager Rachel Gurner still lives in her childhood apartment—along with her off-kilter actress sister, Jackie; eccentric playwright father Mel; and deadpan preteen niece Dodge—above the tiny theatre they own and operate. Level-headed and turtleneck-wearing Rachel is the only thing standing between her family and utter chaos. Then, in the wake of a sudden family tragedy, Rachel and Jackie learn their presumed-deceased mother is actually alive and thriving as a soap-opera star. Now the sisters’ already-precarious balance turns upside down, and Rachel must figure out how to liberate herself from this surreal imbroglio.

 

Co-writer/director/star Hannah Pearl Utt is a triple threat with an impeccable sense of timing and a flair for juxtaposing unpredictable elements. Just as pragmatic Rachel and off-the-wall Jackie seem to hail from different planets while inhabiting the same universe, so too do the film’s over-the-top moments and characters coexist alongside subtle, grounded ones. Equal parts madcap comedy, adult coming-of-age story, and poignant drama, BEFORE YOU KNOW IT gleefully defies categorization, and that is its genius.