"Broken Diamonds" a predictable but mostly delicate indie carried by Platt and Kirke

Broken Diamonds (2021)


There is a set formula within “Broken Diamonds” — the one where estranged siblings must reconcile after the death of a parent and become closer. The one wrinkle is that the sister is schizophrenic, and the brother who felt overshadowed since childhood has to put his self-interest aside to get her the help she needs. Even when frustrating artifice often gets in the way, patches of levity and nuggets of hard truth help steer the pretty predictable route this bittersweet indie takes. 


On the night of his surprise going-away party to Paris, restaurant server and aspiring writer Scott Weaver (Ben Platt) gets the call from his father’s second wife Cookie (Yvette Nicole Brown) that Dad has died. Already stunned by the emotional blow of his loss, he eventually has no choice but to take in his schizophrenic older sister, Cindy (Lola Kirke), who is dismissed from her care facility for exceeding her strikes of infractions. They’re not very close anymore, but Scott realizes he needs to get Cindy to sign off on selling their family home. He will also need to get her settled somehow before going abroad to begin his career. Of course, nothing goes according to plan for Scott when he discovers Cindy hasn’t been taking her medication.


The title, “Broken Diamonds,” comes from Cindy requesting her ashes to be turned into a diamond, a process she read about online; this comes up early in the film and never comes back, making it seem a little arbitrary. Director Peter Sattler (2014’s “Camp X-Ray”), working from a script by Steve Waverly, does deserve credit for not playing schizophrenia as a quirky personality trait for Cindy. There’s a long family history that comes through, particularly in muted flashbacks, to convey how Scott has always felt second fiddle. In a story like this, though, there’s no one to fault but the illness itself. How the film deals with Cindy’s illness feels honest more than not, but it’s when the script wedges in more conflict to stack the cards against the characters that can feel more like plot contrivance. When Cindy comes to stay with Scott, she starts a fire while he’s gone. He has just received his passport in the mail before his trip to Paris, and guess what important document becomes one of the fiery casualties? Cindy swings open Scott’s car door into a wooden post, so now he can’t sell his car. When Cindy might have a job (Scott vouches for her to be capable enough to bus tables at the restaurant he’s leaving), she and Scott celebrate with ice cream, only to run into her high school friend, who’s now a successful actress; this leads to a house party, where the embarrassment is thankfully kept to a minimum. 


What keeps “Broken Diamonds” mostly walking a delicate balance are the performances. For a character who could seem selfish or self-involved, Ben Platt does deeply felt work as Scott, making his frustrations understandable. Lola Kirke has the more difficult task as Cindy, and she handles the character’s manic episodes convincingly, going just as big as she has to without losing Cindy’s humanity. Yvette Nicole Brown also can’t help but be delightful as Scott and Cindy’s stepmother Cookie, who seems to think these siblings like tuna fish sandwiches. As the end credits roll, the actors intermingle with those who have mental illness or relatives of those with mental illness, serving as a generous way to round out this film of good intentions. “Broken Diamonds” is acted so much from the heart that it feels more personal and sensitive than mawkish or simplistic.


Grade: B -


Film Rise is releasing “Broken Diamonds” (90 min.) in theaters and on VOD on July 23, 2021.

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