“Family comes first” in this drama about a dysfunctional family in upstate New York, where common sense clearly comes last. Norma (Kathleen Quinlan), the matriarch of the Valentino clan, seems a little off: She bursts into hysterics after accidentally killing a flower in her garden, and she obsessively watches video missives sent by her youngest daughter, living in Manhattan and too busy to visit.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family falls into some recognizable patterns: Pablo Schreiber (“Orange Is the New Black”) is dutiful oldest son Christian — if this were an Irish family, he’d be Ed Burns — who’s trying to keep his dad’s stone-cutting business alive, while no-good younger brother Nicky (Adam Scarimbolo) gets in brawls and argues with their grouchy, bigoted father (John Doman). Daughter Maxine (screenwriter Sabrina Gennarino) tends bar and hopes to marry her boyfriend (Darrin Dewitt Henson) over her father’s objections, which may be racially motivated.
There’s a secret at play in “After,” which director Pieter Gaspersz communicates via many side-long glances. I won’t give it away, but it’s a fairly far-fetched twist that feels out of place in this realism-based drama.