‘Other People’ centers a gay writer’s return to Sacramento and a family under strain

Chris Kelly’s “Other People” places Sacramento at the center of a family story shaped by illness, sexuality and unresolved relationships. The 2016 comedy-drama follows David Mulcahey, a struggling comedy writer who returns to his childhood home after his mother, Joanne, is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

The film covers a year in the Mulcahey family’s life. David’s return brings him back into contact with his father, Norman, and his younger sisters, Alexandra and Rebeccah. The siblings have grown distant, while David’s relationship with his father remains strained. A central source of that tension is Norman’s continued refusal to accept David’s sexuality, even a decade after David came out.

David is also dealing with a recent breakup. He and his boyfriend, Paul, have separated, but David tells his family that they are still together because he does not want to add to his mother’s worries. That decision places his personal life alongside the family’s efforts to respond to Joanne’s diagnosis, creating another layer of concealment and pressure.

Sacramento is more than a backdrop in the story. It is the place David left behind and the home to which he returns when his family needs care. His reentry into the household brings old conflicts into the present, including the gap between his life as a gay adult and his father’s inability to accept it. The setting connects David’s current responsibilities with the family history he has tried to move beyond.

Kelly wrote and directed the film, his feature directorial debut, and the story is described as semi-autobiographical. Jesse Plemons plays David, with Molly Shannon as Joanne and Bradley Whitford as Norman. The cast also includes Maude Apatow, Madisen Beaty, John Early, Zach Woods, Josie Totah and June Squibb.

“Other People” premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was released by Vertical Entertainment later that year. For LGBTQ audiences, its focus is not limited to coming out as a past event. David’s sexuality remains part of an ongoing family relationship, affecting what he shares, what he withholds and how he navigates a return home during a period of crisis. The film’s Sacramento setting gives that conflict a specific emotional geography: a familiar place where care, grief and the desire for parental acceptance all meet.

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Further links listed by the Wikipedia page (not independently checked): - https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/other_people/ - https://www.yahoo.com/movies/molly-shannons-buzzy-sundance-drama-other-170032059.html - https://variety.com/2016/film/festivals/other-people-review-sundance-molly-shannon-1201686115/ - https://variety.com/2016/film/festivals/sundance-molly-shannon-cancer-dramedy-other-people-brings-audience-to-tears-1201685796/ - https://variety.com/2016/film/markets-festivals/netflix-buys-molly-shannon-cancer-dramedy-other-people-exclusive-1201714098/ - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4158876/ Image rights Photograph description: Modesto is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California. The Modesto Census County Division, which includes the cities of Ceres and Riverbank, has a population of 312,842 as of 2010. Modesto is located in the Central Valley area of No Creator: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA. License: CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0). Original image page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AModesto%2C_California_(10753654665).jpg. The image was resized for display; no other changes were made.