Because We Have Each Other (Premiere Fund)

The delightfully hyper-intimate new feature from [CENSORED] (MIFF 2018) director Sari Braithwaite invites us to share the mundane and the magnificent with a neurodivergent, working-class family.

Janet Sharrock has two children and Brent “Buddha” Barnes has three; the pair has a meet-cute at the local RSL, marry and unite their families, Brady Bunch style. Now grown up, Becky (famous for being one of only 80 people in the world with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory), Jessica (a comedian living with depression), Brendan (who aspires to take over Buddha’s repair shop), and young Kylie and Dylan laugh, cry, contemplate existence and dream big with their parents, finding joy and stability in one another as they face immense change.

Supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund, Braithwaite’s second feature is a masterclass in slice-of-life documentary, centrally embedding audiences in the Barneses’ outer-suburban home. We partake in memories cherished, musings on the universe, and moments wacky and dramatic, while also learning about each person’s vulnerabilities and deepest traumas. But this candid vérité footage blends with hypnotic shots of night-time streets, pouring rain and multitudinous stars – foregrounding the profundity of the little things and the beauty of the everyday. Tender and wondrous, Because We Have Each Other is a portrait of life, love and family unlike any other.