Together (2001)

After getting smacked by her husband, a housewife packs up the two kids and goes to live with her brother in the home he shares with several others; it's basically a commune smack in the middle of a neighborhood. There’s the brother, his wandering girlfriend, a militant socialist, a lonely gay guy, a young idealist couple, and a family made up of a lesbian, her husband, and their kid. Bringing a middle-class housewife and kids into the mix kind of throws the household off its rhythm.

Gary and I started to watch this a few weeks back but it seemed like it tried too hard to hook us with wacky commune life right off the bat (e.g. one of the women is bottomless due to an infection, which causes one of the men to strip in protest, which is of course when the family walks in for the first time). I’m glad I came back to it as the strength of this film lies not in antics, but in connection. The children find their place despite their misgivings and the household shifts to accommodate losing some housemates and gaining others. I’m surprised to be won over by a film that initially made me roll my eyes.

B+