One of the subjects of Lucy Cohen’s doc “Kingdom of Us” recalls an interaction she had with her father the morning before he killed himself. “He told me he had nobody left and that I was his last hope. My response to him was, ‘Dad, I’ve got to get ready for school,’” she tearfully remembers in the film’s trailer. “I really wish that I’d just been a little bit older to understand.”
She isn’t the only one who constantly looks back to that day. Filmed over three years, “Kingdom of Us” follows the widow and seven children who were left behind after the suicide. One of the younger kids admits that she feels as if her father was never really there — she’s just created memories from the stories she’s heard about him. The siblings’ mother observes that, in spite of everything, she’s grateful that her husband left her the gift of their children.
Another daughter discusses how hard it is to move on. “I think we’re all so used to saying like, for six years, ‘We’re okay.’ But there are some days when I’m like, ‘It’s not okay. I’m not fine about what happened.’”
“Kingdom of Us” will make its world premiere October 7 at the BFI London Film Festival and stream on Netflix beginning October 13. Check out the film’s trailer and poster below.
