Breaking Glass Pictures this week has released Give or Take, an award-winning comedy from director Paul Riccio, to home audiences following a limited theatrical run in Los Angeles and New York.
The film is available on DVD and through digital retailers.
Give or Take stars two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz alongside Jamie Effros, Joanne Tucker and “Saturday Night Live” alum Cheri Oteri. The film is a portrait of a son’s journey to understand and accept the complexities of his father.
Give or Take has been hailed by the Austin Chronicle as a “genial dramedy reminiscent of Zach Braff’s Garden State,” while Screen Queens calls it “a touching depiction of bereavement and contemplation of identity.”
Riccio in a press release said his film “is the definition of a comedy with heart. It’s a detailed and authentic narrative, affording real depth to the regret, resentment and misunderstanding that can take shape around a loved one’s death.”
Effos portrays Martin, a pragmatist who on the surface lives an acceptable life but still feels disconnected, especially from his father, Kenneth, a distant man Martin could never figure out. Their relationship got more complicated when Kenneth came out after his wife died. For the first time, he was able to live openly and honestly as a gay man. He found love with a younger man, his lawn guy, Ted (Butz), and they’d been living together in Ken’s house on Cape Cod ever since. When Kenneth dies, Martin goes home to sell the house while sharing it with Ted. Grieving, they circle each other, butt heads, and negotiate how to remember the different man they both loved, and the significance of what he left behind.
Give or Take premiered at the Woods Hole Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature, and went on to play numerous other festivals including the Monmouth Film Festival, where it won Best Narrative Feature; Out on Film Atlanta, winning two awards for Best Ensemble and Best Screenplay; the Port Townsend Film Festival, where it won Best Feature; Out at the Movies, where it was honored with Best Screenplay and the Audience Award for Best Feature; and FilmOut San Diego, where Butz took home Best Supporting Actor.