ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

LGBTQ

My Name Is Pauli Murray – Historic Footnote

by Leave a Comment

“I want to see America be what she says she is in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. America, be what you proclaim yourself to be!”

When filmmakers Julie Cohen and Betsy West were making the Oscar-nominated RGB, they came across a citation that Ruth Bader Ginsberg had in her brief arguing for women’s rights before the Supreme Court. They thought it was worth finding out who this person was. My Name Is Pauli Murray is what they discovered. Fifteen years before Rosa Parks, Pauli Murray was arrested for not moving to the back of the bus. Decades before the Wilmington Lunch Counter Sit-In, Pauli and other students desegregated restaurants in DC. Pauli was one of the founders on the National Organization for Women. Essays Pauli wrote were part of the arguments laid before the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. Pauli made the case that the Fourteenth Amendment could be used to protect women’s rights (as Ginsberg argued). And yet, so few of us have heard of Pauli Murray.

Pauli Murray stars in MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios ©2021 PM PM Doc, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The film’s title makes it clear that this is an introduction. Pauli Murray’s name is one we should know, but don’t. And Pauli is an interesting personality. Pauli was something of a polymath. Pauli was an author, lawyer, poet, and eventually a priest. (Pauli was the first Black woman ordained in the Episcopal Church.) Pauli often practiced confrontation by typewriter, writing letters to people of power. When writing to FDR, Pauli would copy Eleanor Roosevelt, which lead to a friendship.

You may note my lack of pronouns here. Pauli was gender non-conforming, and in today’s language would probably identify as transexual. As a child Pauli dressed and acted as a boy. The family referred to Pauli as a boy/girl. For a time, Pauli rode the rails in the persona of a man. When facing surgery at one point, Pauli anticipated the doctors discovering undescended testes. (They didn’t.) This sense of inbetweenness is important for understanding some of the work that Pauli did.

Much of the film is made up tape recordings of Pauli reading from an autobiography as it was being written. It is important that we can hear that story in Pauli’s own voice. It is also important to hear the stories of people who knew Pauli and who have continued to build on that legacy.

What I miss from the film (and that is no doubt because of my ministerial background) is any real examination of the theological understandings Pauli developed while attending seminary later in life or serving as a priest. Given Pauli’s wonderful insights while studying the law, I would expect that Pauli could also bring that background and intellect to the realm of religion with similar insights.

Pauli Murray stars in MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios ©2021 PM PM Doc, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Pauli Murray truly was one of those unknown giants upon whose shoulders people are still standing seeing a future that can be made better. Pauli might well be seen as a footnote in the history of civil, women’s, and LGBTQ rights. To be a footnote does not lessen the impact. Indeed, we use footnotes as foundations for important ideas. Pauli may not have been someone most of the world see do important things, but great things were built upon Pauli’s work.

My Name is Pauli Murray in in select theaters and will be available in Prime Video beginning October 1.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg stars in MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios ©2021 PM PM Doc, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Photos courtesy of Amazon Studios.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye – Complex Simplicity

by Leave a Comment

For many people, Tammy Faye Bakker is probably best known for being the butt of jokes and SNL skits. Her outlandish makeup was a trademark that was easy to satirize, as was her singing and onscreen demeanor. But what of the person behind all that? The Eyes of Tammy Faye, directed by Michael Showalter, gives us a very sympathetic look at this woman who was an icon to televangelism, and who also became a champion of LGBTQ rights. The film is based on an excellent documentary by the same name from 2000 directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. Screenwriter Abe Sylvia has done a masterful job of expanding and transforming that documentary into a narrative film. (Although, there are some small bits of dramatic license, but nothing that really does harm to the story.)

The film follows Tammy Faye’s life from a child in International Falls, Minnesota, where she was somewhat discouraged from going to church because her mother had divorced and remarried. But Tammy Faye (Jessica Chastain) was so attracted to the church that she went anyway, and when she spoke in tongues, she was readily accepted. When at Bible college, she met and fell in love with Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield), who even then was proclaiming the prosperity gospel. They soon married and set out on the road as traveling evangelists.

Andrew Garfield as “Jim Bakker” and Jessica Chastain as “Tammy Faye Bakker” in the film THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

When their travels took them to the area of the fledgling televangelist Pat Robertson, Jim and Tammy Faye started doing a kid’s show for him, which Jim leveraged into “The 700 Club”, the first Christian talk show. Soon, Robertson wanted that show for himself, so Jim and Tammy Faye started their own televangelist network (PTL) which grew rapidly. The vision was always far ahead of resources, and debt was a constant problem, especially after building a theme park that rivaled Disneyland. Through it all the couple lived a luxurious life. In time, Jim Bakker was eventually charged with and convicted of fraud and sent to prison.

While the documentary covered all this history with archival footage, this film takes us behind the curtain to see all this taking place through Tammy Faye’s perspective. And that allows us to see a multi-faceted person who has more to her than we may suspect.

The film opens with a scene (reenacted from the doc) of Tammy Faye at a TV studio having her makeup removed so that more camera-friendly makeup can be put on. While the makeup comes off, she talks about all her makeup. We then discover that some of it is permanent. Tammy Faye concludes, “Yeah, this is who I am.” We are struck by how the real and the persona are blended in such a way that it’s hard to separate one from the other. As the film progresses, we see Tammy Faye as someone who is blended in many ways.

Jessica Chastain as “Tammy Faye Bakker” in the film THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

One of those ways is how she seems to be in a constant tension between her stolid Midwestern upbringing (personified in her mother, played by Cherry Jones) and the lavish lifestyle that surrounds her. Certainly, Jim’s messages of prosperity as a sign of faith gives some spiritual cover for that (even if a dubious theology). Even though she’s very comfortable with all the luxury, there is always her mother’s disapproval of it.

The film also makes a point that Tammy Faye was more than just Jim’s wife. (That is truer here than in the documentary.) To be sure, much of her life, its rises and falls, were caused by Jim and his dreams (and lack of solid morals), but there were ways that Tammy Faye had her own sense of power and her own desires. A key illustration is a scene in which Jim, Robertson, and Jerry Falwell are all sitting down at a barbecue to talk business. The women are all left on the periphery. That is, until Tammy Faye, baby in arms, pulls her own chair up to the table to insert herself into the discussion.

Jessica Chastain as “Tammy Faye Bakker” and Andrew Garfield as “Jim Bakker” in the film THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

It should be noted that Chastain is one of the producers of the film as well as the star. When she first saw the documentary, she was moved to make it into a film and bought the rights. There is a certain “Time’s Up” feeling to that place-at-the-table scene. This view of Tammy Faye as one pushing for women’s rights adds another layer to her persona in the film.

Later, Tammy Faye became the first leader among Evangelicals to show great compassion to AIDS sufferers, which led her to be compassionate toward LGBTQ people in general. She understood them to be beloved of God. She may or may not have approved of their lives, but she saw them first and foremost as God’s children. This at a time when many of the other televangelist were referring to AIDS as a plague sent from God to punish gays.

Randy Havens as “Steve Pieters” and Jessica Chastain as “Tammy Faye Bakker” in the film THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

After watching this film, I watched the documentary for comparison. While there are some differences in how the stories are told, the films together serve to give a fuller picture of the events and of Tammy Faye. The impression I had of Tammy Faye after watching both films was that the best description of her is “simple”. (By that I mean uncomplicated, not mentally deficient.) The picture this film gives us of Tammy Faye is a woman who is guileless. In spite of her garish makeup, with Tammy Faye, what you see is what you get.

Jessica Chastain as “Tammy Faye Bakker” and Andrew Garfield as “Jim Bakker” in the film THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE. Photo by Daniel McFadden. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

That simplicity applies to her gospel message as well. The “Gospel according to Tammy Faye” is “God loves you. He really does.” As one trained in theology, I know that there are volumes written to describe the Gospel and the many nuances that grow out of God’s relationship to the world. Back when the Bakkers were riding the wave of televangelism, I would have likely belittled them for many valid reasons. But I also can say that that simple statement of God’s love is truly a full statement of the Gospel.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye opens in theaters September 17.

Defining Moments – It’s about life.

by Leave a Comment

Stephen Wallis’s Defining Moments is a collection of intersecting stories about people who are facing those times in their lives that could well change everything. This is a light-hearted film that at times seems a bit ludicrous, but within that there are morsels of wisdom and understanding.

We meet Marina (Polly Shannon) who has returned home to visit her father Chester (Burt Reynolds, in his final role). Chester declares that he’ll be dead in nine months. He feels he’s lived enough. He wants to spend the time saying goodbye. Jack (Shawn Roberts) blurts out something stupid that makes his girlfriend Terri (Kelly Van de Burg) doubt their future together. Laurel (Tammy Blanchard) is facing an unexpected late life pregnancy and the discovery that her doctor father (Eric Peterson) is showing signs of Alzheimer’s. And Dave (Dillon Casey) is hospitalized after shooting his ear off in his (about) 30th suicide attempt.

The story weaves through ten of chapters (with titles like “A Moment of Clarity”, “A Moment of Change”, A Moment of Gratitude”, or “A Moment of Truth”. Little by little the people involved must face their issues in search of that moment that will change their lives forever.

The film uses a lot of license in its portrayal of these lives. Much of it just isn’t all that realistic. However, at its core the film is about the relationships between people and how those relationships and the way we build them form our lives.

The film opens and closes with voice over monologs that focus on a cemetery. That brings to mind the assurance that we all face death. But the opening voice over as it ponders the thousand of people buried in the cemetery: “How many people are still remembered? I mean at what point does that last memory of you disappear?” That calls to mind a comment from Ecclesiastes: (For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten.” (Eccl. 2:16 NRSV) Yet mortality is not the point of the film. It notes that we all die, but also that we all live. And it is that living that is important.

Defining Moments is in theaters and available of VOD.

To see our interview with Stephen Wallis and Eric Peterson on YouTube, click here. To stream audio from the interview, click here.

Photos courtesy of VMI Worldwide.

Day 5 at AFI Docs

by 1 Comment

Often when important events happen, those involved pay homage to the past by talking of standing on the shoulders of giants. (This actually goes back to before its attribution to Sir Isaac Newton, so there are obviously lots of giants.) Today’s films look back at a couple of those giants upon whose shoulders others have stood and may still stand. One is well known. The other will likely be someone you haven’t heard of.

Celebrities often take part in social causes. In Andre Gaines’s film The One and Only Dick Gregory, we get a look at a comedian, a civil rights and anti-war activist, and healthy lifestyle activist. His humor was often built around race. He could play a room full of white people and have them laughing while at the same time making biting commentary. He was a friend to Medgar Evers and Dr. King. He was arrested frequently. He was targeted by J. Edgar Hoover. It was not enough for him to be rich and famous. He wanted to change the world.

In the film his autobiographiy coauthor Robert Lipsyte says, “He had a mission to accomplish, and it wasn’t just making jokes.” Indeed, very little of the film deals with his comedy, which was impressive in its own right. That comedy opened the door for many more Black comedians (some of whom pay a bit of homage in the film). What we see over and over is a man who was committed to the causes that affected people—racial injustice, the war in Vietnam, and later nutrition.

I was aware of Dick Gregory as a comedian/activist, but was never really connected to his work. This film, gives a very full picture of a man who was indeed a giant in many ways. The One and Only Dick Gregory will be available on Showtime July 4.

“I want to see America be what she says she is in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. America, be what you proclaim yourself to be!”

When filmmakers Julie Cohen and Betsy West were making the Oscar-nominated RGB, they came across a citation that Ruth Bader Ginsberg had in her brief arguing for women’s rights before the Supreme Court. They thought it was worth finding out who this person was. My Name Is Pauli Murray is what they discovered. Fifteen years before Rosa Parks, Pauli Murray was arrested for not moving to the back of the bus. Decades before the Wilmington Lunch Counter Sit-In, Murray and other students desegregated restaurants in DC. Murray was one of the founders on the National Organization for Women. Essays Murray wrote were part of the arguments laid before the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. Murray made the case that the Fourteenth Amendment could be used to protect women’s rights (as Ginsberg argued). And yet, so few of us have heard of Pauli Murray.

Murray was something of a polymath. She was an author, lawyer, poet, and eventually a priest. (Murray was the first Black woman ordained in the Episcopal Church.) You may note my lack of pronouns here. Murray was gender non-conforming, and in today’s language would probably identify as transexual. Murray often practiced confrontation by typewriter, writing letters to people of power. When writing to FDR, Murray would copy Eleanor Roosevelt, which lead to a friendship.

Much of the film is made up tape recording of Murray reading from an autobiography as it was being written. It is important that we can hear that story in Murray’s own voice. It is also important to hear the stories of people who knew Murray and who have continued build on that legacy. Pauli Murray truly was one of those unknown giants upon whose shoulders people are still standing seeing a future that can be made better.

For today’s shorts, I want to make special note of When We Were Bullies. Filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt coincidentally meets an elementary school classmate decades later, they recall a bullying incident they were part of. Rosenblatt tries to contact all those involved to see if they remember it. It’s a difficult thing to realize that one has been a bully. (I made that realization some time ago.) In a way, that may be a typical part of growing up. But does that absolve us of what we have done so long ago. An excellent short.

Other shorts for today include Lydia Cornett’s Party Line, which show scenes from the very long line on the final day of early voting in Columbus, Ohio, last year. Ohio law only allows one early voting site per county, and 117,356 people voted early in that county. We see lots of masked people waiting in the snow to take part in democracy. In Halpate, directed by Adam Piron and Adam Khalil, we see Seminole allegator wrestlers in Florida with a bit of background as to why they have done this.

Photos courtesy of AFI.

Changing the Game – Knowing Who You Are

by Leave a Comment

Part of my self-identity is as a jock. That isn’t to say I’m particularly athletic, but I always wanted to be. I took part in sports, but never excelled. But that desire helps define me as a person. Changing the Game, a documentary by Michael Barnett, is a look at the struggles of three high school athletes as they strive to claim their identities. All three are transgender. [Note: throughout the review I will refer to them as the gender they know themselves to be.]

Mack Beggs is a Texas state wrestling champion, trying to gain his second title. In Texas, boys are not allowed to wrestle against girls, and gender is determined by one’s birth certificate. That means that Mack must wrestle against girls. Because he is taking testosterone as part of his transitional therapy, he has a definite advantage against his opponents.

Sarah Rose Huckman is a skier in New Hampshire. That state’s rules, when she began competing, was that gender reassignment surgery must be completed to compete as that gender. (Which is a fairly inane idea given high school students ages.) She becomes an advocate for transgender rights in her state.

Andraya Yearwood runs track in Connecticut. In that state, students can compete in whichever gender they self-identify as. Like Mack, as Andraya competes in women’s races, her body (and its masculine hormones, create an advantage.

All three of these young people are skilled at their sports. But they risk controversy to take part. Is it fair to the other athletes? Is it fair to these three if they are banned from competition? The film has voices on both sides of these questions, but there are deeper questions that arise as well, such as the nature of transgender identity and the role of sports in schools.

As we meet the three athletes, their parents, friends, and coaches, we certainly see them as the gender that they identify with. Although, Mack’s grandfather still struggles with the proper pronoun to use, all of these people are supportive of them not just as athletes, but as young people. These athletes are very clear what gender they are—even if people in the stands or state athletic systems are not.

 It is also shown how difficult it is not just to be a trans athlete, but a trans teen as well. It is noted in the film that 40% of trans teens attempt suicide. The pressures of being transgender can become overwhelming. These three athletes must deal with those pressures, and have them amplified by the controversy when they compete.

The film also looks into the value of sports for students. Andraya’s coach is the most open about his view of sports. It is not primarily about winning, but about teaching life lessons to the young people he coaches. An administrator in Connecticut makes the case for their very open policy by saying that you cannot have them live as one gender all the rest of the day, then when it comes to sports tell them they aren’t that gender.

The film is a fair treatment of the issue of the participation in sports by such athletes. There are problems with all the systems to be sure. But as a jock, I value the ways that sport (even when I failed) has influenced my life. I would not want to prevent young athletes from such experiences because their bodies do not match their gender. The three athletes we meet know themselves as more than as jocks. So do we.

Changing the Game is streaming on Hulu.

Photos courtesy of Hulu.

Nina Wu – The Dark Side of Success

by Leave a Comment

“I really can’t take it anymore. You’re not only destroying my body, but my soul.”

An actress gets the roll of a lifetime in the Taiwanese film Nana Wu, directed by Midi Z. But while it may be a dream come true, it creates nightmares that she must try to figure out. What she discovers will put her career into a completely different light.

The title character (played by Wu Ke-Xi, who co-wrote the script) has spent eight years eking out a career doing bit roles. She is offered a leading role, but is a bit unsure because it involves nudity and a sex scene. Her agent tells her that she’s free to turn it down. But he also notes that this is an excellent role—the kind that can make a career.

We watch as the film is made, seeing occasional abusive behavior by the director. When the film is finished everyone thinks a new star has been found. Meanwhile Nina returns to her small hometown where she is reunited with her former lover who is still acting in a production of The Little Prince done for school children. When she returns for pre-opening publicity, she is pressed about the sex scenes of the film. She responds by stating she is a professional actress.

While on the trip, she begins to have nightmares—usually featuring the color red and frequently involving hallways (which also play a role in the film she was starring in). As we watch these nightmares (and some daytime events that may or may not be real) we sense that there is something from her past that is trying to find its way into Nina’s consciousness. Little by little, Nina begins to piece together the memories that reveal the true nature of her experience.

It is of interest that the quote I open the review with is a line from the film within a film. We hear Nina practicing the line before auditions. We also see her deliver the line in what is obviously a key scene of the film she is making. That line serves to help us understand not just the character Nina is portraying, but the feeling that is within her that is struggling to make its way to the surface.

In press notes, Wu Ke-Xi references stories involving the Asian film industry and the abuse of actresses. These stories were coming to light around the same time that the #MeToo movement began to raise similar issues in Hollywood. These stories highlight emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. This film is a reminder of the scars that such abuse can leave.

Nina Wu is opened in limited virtual cinema locations, expanding to more and to VOD on April 2.

Photos courtesy of Film Movement.

Cowboys – Dad to the Rescue

by Leave a Comment

Is it kidnapping or liberation? Anna Kerrigan’s Cowboys is the story of a father who is trying to give his child the chance to a potentially fulfilling life. But the only way to do that is to go against his estranged wife’s wishes and do so outside of the law.

Troy (Steve Zahn) and his wife Sally (Jillian Bell) have been separated since Troy was released from jail. Their ten year old child Joe (Sasha Knight) wants to spend lots of time with Joe, and one day alone with him Joe asks Troy to tell Sally that he is a boy in the wrong body. He no longer wants to wear dresses. We have seen that Joe is always sullen when at family functions dressed as a girl and expected to act as such. Sally is not open to this revelation. She keeps trying to force girly things and toys on Joe. Troy and Sally can’t even agree on a pronoun for Joe. Finally, Joe can’t take it anymore and wants Troy to take him away. That night, Troy shows up and Joe sneaks out the window and they’re gone.

Troy leads them up into the Rockies and is headed for the Canadian border. Meanwhile, Sally has called in the police. The detective in charge (Ann Dowd) can tell that there is more to the story than Sally is telling. As she learns more, she wants to help Troy and Joe find a way out of the mess. As the manhunt draws nearer, Troy (who is bi-polar and has lost his meds) becomes more erratic.

The story is told with lots of flash backs that reveal bits of the story leading up to Joe’s coming out. That backstory also includes the reason Troy had to spend some time in jail. We also see that even with the problems Troy and Sally have had, this is a loving family. Joe having to deal with coming out as transgender was a strain that Sally was not able to deal with. It is understandable that one cannot quickly come to understand one’s child as being totally different than what you have known them as.

The film comes up a bit short of its potential. Part of the reason is the part of the story dealing with Troy’s bi-polar issues really doesn’t add much to the story. In some ways it becomes a distraction to the real issue of coming to terms with a transgender child—both for the parents and for the larger community. At the end of the film we see Joe getting on a bus to return to school for the first time. We know that will be a difficult transition as well. There is grace at that point, but we sense that it has been arrived at a bit too easily.

Cowboys is available via virtual cinema through local theaters and on VOD.

Photos courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.

@Sundance – The World to Come

by Leave a Comment

“You are my city of joy.”

Mona Fastvold’s The World to Come takes us to a world that seems long past, but that reflects many of the same struggles people face today. It is a love story filled with yearning. But it also is a story of confinement and oppression.

Set in the mid-19th century, the story is told by Abigail (Katherine Waterston) who lives on a farm with her husband Dyer (Casey Affleck). She has begun to keep a journal because the ledger Dyer keeps about the farm only speaks of numbers: money, supplies, animals. It doesn’t mention the passions, fears, and griefs of their lives, and they have had many. When Abigail asks if she every shows up in Dyer’s ledger, he replies only when she creates an expense. Abigail is especially suffering from the loss of her young daughter. She says, “I have become my grief.” They are busy with the struggle to survive the winter on the farm, but there seems to be little affection or warmth in their relationship.

Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby appear in The World to Come by Mona Fastvold, an official selection of the Spotlight section at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Vlad Cioplea.

As spring arrives, a wagon goes by with new leasers for the neighboring property. In the few seconds they are stopped, Abigail is immediately drawn to the beautiful young wife, Tallie (Vanessa Kirby). Tallie’s husband Finney (Christopher Abbott) is controlling and demanding. He expects his wife’s submission in every way. He is very free in quoting scripture to underline his belief. Tallie, however, is too much of a free spirit to give herself up, even with some thinly veiled threats.

In time the two women meet and create a very strong bond. Their visits fill the emptiness that each woman is experiencing. Soon Abigail’s thoughts and journal entries are constantly on Tallie. Their visits become more frequent and more intimate. They are obviously deeply in love. But the constraints of the time—and of marriage—prevent them from fully living out that love. At one point, the two women speak of their experience as prison, leading to Abigail referring to the story of King Lear and trying to view this prison (with Tallie) in a positive light. But the darkness of this confinement will in time become annihilation.

While this is the women’s story, the two men are also an interesting contrast. They, too, seem to be trapped by the world. We see that Dyer is interested in all things mechanical. Abigail says he would have loved to followed the natural sciences, but circumstances demanded he go into farming. That inclination to the mechanical and the strict accounting of his ledger may explain some of his emotional distance from his grieving wife. Finney is not only controlling over Tallie, but seeks to convey a superiority over Dyer and Abigail as well. He seems unable to form a real bond with anyone, male or female. We sense that he believes they are all below him.

The film opens in the depth of winter. That reflects very much the coldness within Abigail’s marriage and her personal life. The storms she and Dyer face are not just against the violent weather, but against the emotional tempest they are struggling to survive. As spring—and Tallie—come on the scene, the world becomes much brighter, although there are still deep shadows within the two homes when the two are apart. The gorgeous cinematography and exceptional production design help to convey all this.

The World to Come was spotlighted at the Sundance Film Festival and is coming soon to theaters (where open), then soon after that on VOD.

Photos courtesy of Bleecker Street.

Uncle Frank – The Person You Decide to Be

by Leave a Comment

Family can be a place of pain or a place of healing. It can be the place we try to escape from or the place we need to return to. It is where we hear words that are like a knife in the heart or like the warmth of a hug. In Alan Ball’s Uncle Frank, it is all of those things.

The story is told from the perspective of Beth (Sophia Lillis), in high school when we first meet her. But the focus is really her Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany). During one of his rare visits to their southern family, Beth is fascinated by Frank and how different he is from the rest of the family. He lives in New York City where he teaches. Beth has no idea why her grandfather (Frank’s father) is so rude to him. When Beth talks with Frank he tells her, “You get to be the person you decide to be or the person everyone else tells you you are. You get to choose.” That conversation changes her life.

(L-R) Sophia Lillis and Paul Bettany star in UNCLE FRANK Photo: Brownie Harris Courtesy of Amazon Studios

Beth heads off to New York for college. When she crashes a party at Frank’s apartment, she discovers that he’s gay and has a long-time partner, Walid (Peter Macdissi). When Frank gets a call to tell him his father died suddenly, he and Beth drive down to South Carolina for the funeral. Frank doesn’t want Walid to come because he doesn’t want his family to know he’s gay. Walid, knowing that Frank will need his support, rents a car and follows them. In time the three of them are on a road trip.

As Frank talks with Beth on the trip, he recalls his youth and the discovery of being gay. It was young love, but it also carried a great deal of condemnation from church and home. After the death of his first love, Frank has carried guilt and shame all these years, even though outwardly he seems comfortable with his life (at least while he is in New York). But when his father’s will surprisingly and cruelly outs him, his emotional turmoil overwhelms him.

SOPHIA LILLIS, PAUL BETTANY and PETER MACDISSI star in UNCLE FRANK

It all goes back to that conversation between Frank and Beth about choosing who you will be. In New York, Frank is the person he has “decided to be”, but does not live that out when he comes home. His father has always looked at him with shame and loathing—that is what society says Frank should feel. When at home, that is who he becomes. That serves as a kind of demonstration of the way pride and shame often play out for LGBTQ people. They may go to gay pride events, but remain closeted to the people closest to them.

(L-R) Lois Smith and Margo Martindale star in UNCLE FRANK Photo: Brownie Harris Courtesy of Amazon Studios

However, Frank may be surprised by how his family responds to his sudden outing. The revelation may be hard for them, but these are people who have loved him his whole life. They may not be able to put that into words well, but it comes through clearly. There is a nice supporting cast that makes up this family, including Margo Martindale and Stephen Root as Frank’s parents, Steve Zahn as Frank’s brother and Beth’s father, Judy Greer as Beth’s mother, and Lois Smith as Frank’s Aunt Butch. While not everyone is welcoming to this news about Frank, there is grace that comes out in various ways.

Uncle Frank is available on Amazon Prime.

Photos courtesy of Amazon Studios.

Ammonite: Reigniting the Spark of the Soul

by Leave a Comment

Set in the 1840s, acclaimed palaeontologist Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) continues her daily search for fossils along the harsh coastline of Lyme Regis. Although she has made significant contributions to the scientific community, she is now largely ignored by the male-dominated historical society and spends her days looking for common fossils to sell to rich tourists. When wealthy visitor Roderick Murchison asks Mary to care for his young wife, Charlotte (Saoirse Ronan) in his absence, she begrudgingly accepts due to her financial needs. However, as Mary and Charlotte spend more time together, their mutual support for one another starts to bring their hearts back to life. As their friendship turns into a passionate love affair, the two women’s lives are irrevocably changed.

Written and directed by Francis Lee (God’s Own Country), Ammonite is a slow burn of smoldering sensuality. Based on the life of Mary Anning but not on true events, the film is an interesting look at a historical context without feeling forced to recreate actual events. As a result, Lee’s film is an intriguing mix of fact and fiction as he manages to tell a story that seems to flesh out the experiences of women during the 19th century yet also maintains his creative license to explore the modern female voice as well.

While period pieces can become tropes unto themselves, the performances in Ammonite help to elevate the film above other more recent examples. Both Ronan and Winslet have genuine chemistry onscreen and each unspoken glance offers more passion than any flurry of poetic words. Both women are excellent together onscreen yet it’s Winslet that is absolutely remarkable as the emotionally stilted Mary. Anchoring the film with her performance, Winslet says few words yet communicates much. Like the fossils that she uncovers, Mary too is frozen in time and requires gentle care to free her soul from her hardened emotional shell. As such, Winslet brings a complicated subtly to the role that reveals both an inner strength and underlying fear.

While the film’s sweeping romance remains the focal point of the narrative, the empowering of women in the midst of a toxically masculine society is telling. Having both been taken advantage by men in different ways, Mary and Charlotte have both been silenced by their culture. Though the effects of Charlotte’s abusive relationship are much more visible, Mary too has been neglected by the male-dominated historical society that features her work. As such, both women have lost their voices at the hands of others. As they begin to carry one another’s burdens, sparks of life begins to resurface within them and their spirits lighten.

photograph by Agatha A. Nitecka/RÅN studio

While Ammonite uses this spiritual resurgence to emphasize their sweeping romance, the joy that stems from feeling heard and seen by another is far more important. By highlighting the healing power of relationships, the film serves as a reminder of the value of each human soul and how easily they can be trampled on by the ignorant and selfish. Then, when their sexual journey finally comes together, their affair stems not merely from some base, animal attraction but from the fact that both women have empowered one another in ways that have restored their souls. In this way, Ammonite recognizes that genuine intimacy and mutual support is far more life-giving than raw physical attraction and celebrates the spiritual spark that such relationships bring.

While the film may not be for everyone, there is something poignant about Ammonite that stays with the viewer after the film is complete. As Mary and Charlotte’s relationship blossoms, their love carries an intimate beauty that is often missing from today’s romance films. Like each fossil that the women, Lee shows the viewer that the heart can be restored once again, even when it has been embedded in the muck and mire.

Ammonite is in select theatres now and will be available on VOD in early December.