Take Me Home
2023 · 16m · USA
Directed by Liz Sargent
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, provocative, tender
When their mother suffers a sudden health crisis in Florida, a Korean adoptee with cognitive disability named Anna calls her estranged sister Emily for help; the two sisters must overcome years of distance and systemic barriers to care for each other and grieve together.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
The director's actually-disabled sister plays the lead in her actual house — that's not festival cosplay, that's a structural choice that should make the able-bodied gaze flinch. I want to see it work.
Sargent casting her own cognitively disabled sister in her own family home, structuring improvisation to preserve her authorship — this is the ethical innovation Edith+Eddie circled and finally claims. A rare instance where the production method is itself the argument.
Casting the director's actual cognitively disabled sister in the family's actual home, with structured improv that keeps Anna in control of her performance — that's a methodology choice, not a casting one, and it's the thing that distinguishes this from the standard able-bodied-sibling drama.
Reviews
Avoids cheap sentimentality and easy answers — an unaffected drama regarding why being there for loved ones is essential.
The rhythms and nuances of Anna's mind and communication style are authentically preserved and the result is fascinating.
Festivals
- Sundance Film Festival 2023
- SXSW 2023
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2023
- Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival 2023
- American Cinematheque PROOF of Concept Film Festival 2024, Grand Jury Prize