What They Had
Film: What They Had (98 min)
Written and Directed by: Elizabeth Chomko
Available on Amazon and other streaming platforms
Release Date: January 2018
In the opening scenes of this captivating film, an older woman gets out of bed in the dark, gets partially dressed, and walks out of the house in a light jacket into a snowy night. The shot holds on her walking down the street for several seconds until she disappears into a shower of heavy snowfall. A wife/mother has disappeared, setting off panic on the part of her husband and children. Her son, Nicholas (Michael Shannon), lives nearby and is not surprised at what has happened. Her daughter, Bridgit (Hillary Swank) flies in from California. While driving back from picking her up at the airport Nicholas says, “I knew this was gonna happen. And I’ve been telling him for years, ‘you gotta figure out what you wanna do with Mom when the time comes because we all know it’s coming, we all know how this thing works.’”