TRIBECA 2021 Review – Mark, Mary, & Some Other People

Writer/Director Hannah Marks’ second feature film, ‘Mark, Mary & Some Other People’, reinvents the indie-romantic-comedy genre for the Gen Z era.

Already signed by Vertical Entertainment to a North American distribution deal, ‘Mark, Mary’ makes its World Premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.

The Plot

Mark, played by a floppy-haired and mustached Ben Rosenfield; and Mary, played by free spirited and tattooed Hayley Law; meet in a convenience store.  Mark approaches this girl he recognizes from college, just as Mary reaches for a pregnancy test.

The banter is fun and quick as each tests the other’s memories and boundaries.  Mark asks form Mary’s phone number over smoothies.  Mary asks Mark to take a pregnancy test with her, before she’ll answer his question.

“Your femininity doesn’t die at menopause, it dies when you are no longer able to safely reproduce.” 

Mary – played by Hayley Law

While waiting for the test results, Mary laments society’s way of valuing women, while Mark screams an improvised song at the top of his lungs to distract her.  Only after the results come in does Mary accept Mark’s date request.

‘One Year-ish later’; a whirlwind romance, followed by an impromptu wedding, kicks off our couple’s love story.

The Good

Director Hannah Marks‘ Sophomore film starts with a familiar subject matter, a familiar structure, and tells a clear and concise story covering new ground for a new generation.

Love, marriage, and having kids are familiar subjects for romantic comedies to mine.  But, Marks creates three dimensional characters and situations aimed specifically at a Gen Z audience.

Mary’s intelligence, curiosity, and independence shine through.  She pays the bills by working a sexy maid service, but subverts expectations by being 100% in control.  Mary plays in her band, and openly dates both men and women however she sees fit.  She’s strong, open, and free.

“It’s not that you’re bringing it up…  It’s that you’re thinking about it at all…”

Mark, played by Ben Rosenfield

After hearing her sister Tori, played by Sofia Bryant, mention her active dating life, Mary gets jealous.  This inspires Mary to approach husband Mark with an idea.  Some might call it Polyamory, some might call it an ‘Open Marriage’, but Mary calls it ‘Ethical Non-Monogamy’.  Mark hesitates, at first, but eventually agrees with Mary’s wishes.

The film’s structure is a simple prologue, three acts, and epilogue structure.  The familiarity of structure balances well with any confusion the audience might have with the Ethical Non-Monogamy lifestyle.

Casting choices put lesser known actors in our two lead and four supporting characters, and round out the film with more familiar faces in one or two scene rolls.  Community’s Gillian Jacobs cameos as Dr. Jacobs, Brooklyn 99’s Jo Lo Truglio cameos as the neighbor ‘Chris’, with Back To The Future’s Lea Thompson offers encouragement and guidance as ‘Aunt Carol’, and fresh off her return as ‘Janice’ in Friends: The Reunion, Maggie Wheeler.

The Bad

Very little for “Mark, Mary, & Some Other People” falls into the bad category.  However, the one area this film seems to play it ‘safe’ is the actual depictions of Mark and Mary’s adult explorations in their love lives. 

Director Hannah Marks seems to know EXACTLY what she wants to say, and EXACTLY how she wants to say it in this film.  ‘Mark, Mary…’ is not yet Rated, but given the adult nature of the subject matter and the extensive use of profanity, clearly she is aiming for an ‘R’ Rating. 

However, to have all of the characters fully clothed during many, many romantic trysts throughout the film pushes the believability of the scenario.

Are we supposed to believe Mark and Mary have numerous, short term love connections around town, but are so modest in front of their partners, that they keep their clothes on every time?  This is clearly a choice by the Director, but feels more like an attempt to avoid an ‘R’ Rating than it does to being true to her script and the lifestyle she is trying to show.  

The Review

Mark, Mary, and Some Other People fully embraces and embodies the ‘Indie’ part of Indie Romance/Comedy as well as classics like Kevin Smith’s ‘Clerks‘ and ‘Chasing Amy‘; and Doug Limon/Jon Favreau’s ‘Swingers‘.  The off-the-shoulder shooting style and longer-take editing style mimics the look and feel of Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Swingers. As a lover of the Independent Movie scene, and these movies in particular, this is about as high a praise as I can give.

The depth of character and simplicity of story structure gives both titular characters as much room to explore as the Ethical Non-Monogamy itself.

Ben Rosenfield as Mark portrays the reluctant participant just trying to keep his spouse happy role that might usually be played by a female; and Hayley Law as Mary plays the afraid of monogamy and/or parenthood spouse role that might usually be played by a male.  Both actors add depth and believability to their roles and make the fantastic script jump off the page and onto the screen.

Director Hannah Marks clearly defines these characters and the romantic journey they go on, and shows the rest of us what it’s like to be single-ish/married-ish for Gen Z and younger Millennials today.

90 Minutes/Not Yet Rated/Comedy

Additional Information

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