More than once in Joey Klein's emotional drama The Other Half, we hear the languid girl-group croon of Wendy Rene's 1964 single After Laughter (Comes Tears), a dreamy lament about the flip side of love.
We can apply the volatility to Tatiana Maslany's bipolar character, Emily, an artistic soul whose other half is Tom Cullen's Nickie, a brooding cab driver whose grief is chronic and profound.
The film is the Canadian actor Klein's first feature as a writer and director. His entry is auspicious and welcome. The film's arc is shallow – two troubled lovers navigate a path that will never, ever be smooth – and its tone is restrained and immersive.
The performances are pitch perfect; the soundtrack is evocative; the photography is artful. Nothing is overdone, and nothing is really resolved. Klein strikes great balances, as we root, probably in vain, for the co-dependency of his two main characters to result in something approaching stability.