It wasn’t enough that Dan Levy had conquered TV. The Schitt’s Creek superstar takes those prestigious talents and convinced Netflix to give him a shot at a feature film. If Good Grief is just his first feature, then we could be on the precipice of something great, as Levy shows he can add an hour to his stories and still deliver great entertainment.
At a supremely happy Christmas celebration in London, we meet the friends. Oliver (Luke Evans) is at the center of the whirlwind. He’s married to Marc (Dan Levy), who has his two best friends Thomas (Himesh Patel) and Sophie (Ruth Negga) happily along for the ride. All that comes to a screeching halt when Marc looks out the window, and sees Oliver’s cab crashed on the road, with a LOT of police on the scene. Um, Merry Christmas everyone!
Most people know Levy as the master of the quick reaction shot thanks to his sitcom. What they don’t know is he has just as much going on behind the camera as in front of it. Those eons of TV episode curation prepared him for Good Grief well. The story is obviously very sad, but Levy the writer finds ways to keep the story interesting without forcing all the Netflix streamers to turn off the film, layering in lots of fascinating reveals and little jolts to the story that mostly come off naturally. The director side of him handles the budget increase smartly, using beautiful real shots in London and Paris to make his sad movie as romantic as possible. The camerawork is understated but effective, using very slow zoom ins to help deliver the big messages when the scenes need them. Levy was ready, and Good Grief shows he’s gonna be a quick study as he goes about making his next hopefully awesome film.
All that hard work was necessary for Levy to deliver on the emotions he wants you to feel. When you lose a loved one, yes it’s going to be sad. But with a killer cameo at the funeral, he shows everyone processes grief in their own ways. And more importantly, that grief evolves over time to different things. Marc initially is crestfallen at the loss of his love, but through the will and testimony he learns of some of Oliver’s secrets, which transform that grief into the loss of something else. Marc’s issues cause a domino effect among his friends, as they put aside their baggage for their friend in need, but delaying unpacking doesn’t mean their grief tasks get done. Himesh Patel and Ruth Negga relish at their chances to shine here, especially Negga, who shows her range might have no limits, playing yet another fascinating new character for her.
As always, you can’t help feeling how you feel. But, Good Grief reminds us how important it is to be empathetic while we are also being necessarily selfish, so we can grow in positive healthy ways when something bad happens to us. Take Netflix for example, lamenting the loss of Schitt’s Creek’s viewers, chose to give Dan Levy some money to make a new movie. Now that’s some good ass grief!