At Good Grief groups, children meet to understand the passing of a parent or a sibling through play, giving in to rage in 'the volcano room' and saying goodbye to a dying teddy bear patient in 'the hospital room'. Over the course of a year, we follow the weekly meetings and get close to Kimmy, Nicky, Peter, Nora, Nolan and Mikayla and their close companion: grief. It is sometimes heartbreaking, but also humorous, to experience the questions about life and death through their ... (Full plot summary below)
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At Good Grief groups, children meet to understand the passing of a parent or a sibling through play, giving in to rage in 'the volcano room' and saying goodbye to a dying teddy bear patient in 'the hospital room'. Over the course of a year, we follow the weekly meetings and get close to Kimmy, Nicky, Peter, Nora, Nolan and Mikayla and their close companion: grief. It is sometimes heartbreaking, but also humorous, to experience the questions about life and death through their open and curious minds. Grief is high and heavy as a mountain, but it helps you understand what has happened, and that death is irreversible.
Leave your thoughts about Beautiful Something Left Behind.
| Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovThrough it all Philps keeps her camera low the better to represent the children’s as-yet-unformed POV, both literally and emotionally |
| Slant MagazineDan RubinsKatrine Philp’s documentary boldly argues for a clear-eyed frankness in talking to bereaved children about loss. |
| The New York TimesGlenn KennyIt could be argued that the film needed a little more documentary-style explanation about how the facility works — how long children stay, the goals of the treatment, and so on. But ultimately, Philp can’t be blamed for stressing emotional engagement over exposition. |
| Film ThreatHanna B.In the end, there is no denying An Elephant in the Room is a very earnest project and it is the kind of documentary that has a subject so strong and primordial to its existence that “appearances and effects” might bear little consequences to its overall appreciation. |
| The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe film exudes empathy, as you'd expect, but struggles to find a compelling point of view. |
| Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdonaBeautiful Something Left Behind, which won the documentary award at last year’s South by Southwest Film Festival when the film was called “An Elephant in the Room,” serves as a snapshot of kids in emotional crises, but sadly, little more. |
