What Tomorrow Brings (2025): a family affair

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Cinema has been a family affair since its dawn. The Lumières filmed their family members. Méliès casted his wife in many roles in his films. In the USA, families with tradition on the stage transitioned to the screen, such as the Davenports and the Gish sisters. Then came the Hustons, the Fondas, the Coppolas. Nepobabies aren’t a novelty. Making a movie as a family business isn’t new. This is the case with a recent title, “What Tomorrow Brings”.

Clara (Joely Imogen Engelbert) is a teenager about to begin her senior year of high school. But she has other things to worry about, things different from what occupies the mind of a common teenager. Her widowed mother had shut down everybody from her life, except Clara. One day her mother leaves in order to improve her own health, leaving Clara to take care of her younger sister Ruby (Phoebe Violet Engelbert). Before dying, her father told Clara she had to be there for Ruby — “Ruby first, Mom second” were his words.

Since she can’t leave Ruby alone, Clara leaves her commitments with her beloved band, for which she composed several songs. Because of this, self-appointed bandleader Jason gets mad and assaults Clara at the school hallway.

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On Career Day at school, Clara meets the lawyer Lindsay Andrews (Grace Bydalek), who mentions family law and things she works with, like marriages, divorces, guardians. A bell rings in Clara’s head. She could get Ruby’s guardianship, if she knows the step-by-step and is guided by Lindsay — who may be Clara’s own much-needed guardian angel.

All of a sudden and without asking for it, Clara has to take on lots of responsibilities. She needs to figure out what to do when Ruby gets sick. She needs to pay the bills. Becoming an adult before it’s time is scaring, devastating — to use some of Clara’s words.

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Clara has two supports in life: journaling and her boyfriend / best friend Noah. She’s writing the whole story in a notebook following a doctor’s advice. As for Noah, they play in the same band and are confidents. With time, however, she takes a distance from Noah, who nevertheless doesn’t stop caring for her. Journaling comes later, when Clara hits rock bottom and needs to once again stand on her feet.

How is “What Tomorrow Brings” a family affair? The movie was directed by Matthew Engelbert and the last name gives it away: he’s the father of the two main stars! Father and daughters worked together in the screenplay. The dynamic between the two sisters is sweet and fun to watch — you may even crack a smile or two like I did. It’s a passion project for the family and it shows.

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The credits bring some cool information: all scenes were recorded by an iPhone 15 Pro Max! I remember the fuss when Sean Baker shot his film “Tangerine” with three iPhones 5S back in 2015. A decade was responsible for major improvement in electronics and the scenes look sharp and sometimes dreamy.

An ominous music all the time kept me on the edge of my seat waiting for something tragic to happen. The plot twist came, but left me numb. “What Tomorrow Brings” isn’t a movie to be remembered for its twists and surprises. It’s a movie to make us remember that even when things seem hopeless, it can — and will — get better.