ALL THAT WE LOVE (Tribeca 2024) – Review by Sherin Nicole

I recently wrote in an essay, “…a dog’s life hurled me into mourning.” It is the same for Emma (Margaret Cho) when she’s standing on a mountainside, hesitant to scatter the ashes of her dog Tanner. Directed with understated charm by Yen Tan and penned alongside Clay Liford, All That We Love is a meditative cycle of healing. Emma and her two closest loved ones have dealt with loss. For Emma and her daughter Maggie (Alice Lee), it is their ex-husband and father (Kenneth Choi) who was torn away by alcoholism. For Emma and her bestie Stan (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), it is the husband who no longer stands beside him. And just like that, a dog’s life can be a catalyst for seeking catharsis.

Cho doesn’t step away from her comedic side, instead, she blends it with vulnerability and a persistent longing for the shelter of family—both born and chosen. Faced with the loss of her dog and her daughter’s international move, Emma is irrepressible yet soft with an earnestness she can’t shed even when circumspection could serve better. When her ex returns from Singapore it sets off a series of earthquakes in the lives of Emma, Maggie, and Stan. Each performance, especially those from Lee, Choi, and Tyler Ferguson, captures the teether-toter of confusion and sorrow that infuses loss; while progressing toward the tectonic internal shifts of reconciliation and healing.

Impactful in its gentleness, All That We Love is recognizable for those who mourn, and relatable for those who love. Tan and the cast invite us into a cinematic support group, where the ebb and flow of loving is a clear-eyed reflection of our daily lives. This is a story about the passage of time and how it accretes and erodes the landscape of who we are.