The banter between Alison Pill and Sarah Gadon is a special standout in the film, as it perfectly reflects the sisterly bond, yet also shows the frustrations the two sisters have with each other. However, due to how deeply personal the on-screen emotions of All My Puny Sorrows are, the writing is forgivable and works well in the context of the characters’ lived experiences. There are occasional voiceovers and the way characters speak feels like they just read a thesaurus before beginning a monologue, Yoli and Elf also namedrop classic authors and are even able to quote famous poems from memory. All My Puny Sorrows is extremely literary and clearly based on a novel. The sharpness of his direction allows the literary drama All My Puny Sorrows to be quite riveting, but it does suffer a little bit with the writing. Toews has said that All My Puny Sorrows is semi-autobiographical and, in turn, writer-director Michael McGowan makes it clear how much he respects and wants to do justice to the source material. There is a mutual dependence between the Von Riesen sisters, yet they struggle to understand each other. After being hospitalised for a suicide attempt, Yoli constantly visits Elf in her hospital bed, and the sisters are forced to confront their grief and how they deal with it differently. Elf is a skilled concert pianist and has depression. She often feels pressure from her daughter Nora, encouraged by her ex-husband, as Yoli refuses to sign the divorce papers. Yoli is a struggling and self-doubting author and undergoing a divorce. Yoli and Elf also have their mother Lottie ( Mare Winningham), their aunt ( Mimi Kuzyle), and Yoli’s daughter ( Amybeth McNulty), but at its core, All My Puny Sorrows is about two sisters at odds with one another. While left unexplained, the film suggests that his involvement in the Mennonite Church influenced their father’s suicide. Based on the novel by Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows tiptoes the line between disheartening family drama and dark comedy, yet the film’s touching honesty allows the contradictions to succeed.Īll My Puny Sorrows follows the Von Riesen women, former Mennonites who left the church after the unexpected suicide of their father ( Donal Logue).

Michael McGowan’s All My Puny Sorrows follows the sisterly bond of Yoli ( Alison Pill) and Elf ( Sarah Gadon) Von Riesen as the pair navigate trauma and tragedy.

My puny little sorrows