With tears and cheers, it’s no drag
STAGE MOTHER ★★✩✩✩
(15, 93mins)
Director: Thom Fitzgerald
Stars: Jacki Weaver, Lucy Liu, Adrian Grenier, Jackie Beat, Mya Taylor, Allister Macdonald, Oscar Moreno, Hugh Thompson, Anthony Skordi
SAINT FRANCES ★★★★✩
(15, 101mins)
Director: Alex Thompson
Stars: Kelly O’sullivan, Ramona Edith-williams, Charin Alvarez, Lily Mojekwu, Max Lipchitz
THE BIG UGLY ★★★✩✩
(15, 106 mins)
Director: Scott Wiper
Stars: Vinnie Jones, Ron Perlman, Malcolm Mcdowell, Nicholas Braun
IF YOU ARE still feeling a bit uneasy about returning to a cinema, feelgood weepie Stage Mother offers a gentle way to ease yourself back into the old routine. Don’t be fooled by the mildly edgy setting – this is the kind of film you don’t so much watch as snuggle into.
Like Calendar Girls,the Full Monty and especially Kinky Boots, writer Brad Hennig is working from the classic template of “ordinary people take up slightly risqué hobby”.
The twice Oscar-nominated Jacki Weaver is Maybelline, a Baptist church choir director from a small town in Texas who heads to San Francisco for the funeral of her drug addict son Rickey (Eldon Thiele). Neither Maybelline nor her thinly sketched husband Jeb (Hugh Thompson), have seen him for 10 years since they disowned him for being gay.
After being shocked by the camp funeral service, Maybelline learns that she has inherited Pandora’s Box, the failing drag club Rickey ran with his boyfriend and business partner (but crucially not husband) Nathan (Adrian Grenier).
Understandably, Nathan gives her a frosty reception, leaving Rickey’s best friend Sienna (Lucy Liu) to take her under her wing.
Then a series of unlikely events lead to a happy ending.within seconds of entering the club, cruel, bigoted Maybelline suffers a conversion that knocks St Paul’s road trip to Damascus into a cocked hat. Now a big-hearted liberal with an in-depth knowledge of gay anthems, she decides to use her Southern charm and Texan grit to turn the fortunes of the club around.
Her plan is to make lip-syncing drag queens Cherry Poppins (Mya Taylor),
Joan of Arkansas (Allister Macdonald) and Tequila Mockingbird (Oscar Moreno) the stars of live revue.
Luckily, it turns out all of them have been hiding Broadway-quality voices. And as each of them has a personal problem that desperately needs to be ironed out by a straight-talking matriarch, she quickly wins their hearts.
The musical bits are well staged and I must confess to sensing an ever-so-slight prickling behind the eyes during the scene where Maybelline voices her regrets. But the tear-jerking finale felt unearned. Seems you can’t cry and roll your eyes at the same time.
Saint Frances is, at least to Americans, a far more challenging proposition as it features an abortion and a lesbian couple with kids. This US indie drama has already upset the red cap-wearing, face mask-dodging brigade in its increasingly unhinged homeland.
But it isn’t preachy. Screenwriter and star Kelly O’sullivan is too busy creating three-dimensional characters and constructing convincing human dramas. In this authentically messy story, O’sullivan plays Bridget, an aimless 34-year-old waitress who feels cut adrift from her settled friends.
After an abortion (an event presented without judgment), she lands a job as a nanny despite having no experience and actively disliking children. She’s hired by lesbians Maya (Charin Alvarez) and Annie (Lily Mojekwu) to care for their livewire six-year-old Frances (a funny but not-at-all cutesy Ramona Edith-williams) while Annie goes to work and Maya looks after their new baby.
You can probably guess that Bridget and the far-from-saintly Frances’s relationship will be the focus. But if you’re used to feelgood formulas, this witty, touching and beautifully performed indie will be full of surprises.
Apparently The Big Ugly is named after a creek in Tennessee, although you could be forgiven for thinking it’s a reference to its leading man. But while ex-footballervinnie Jones delivered some big and very ugly performances on the pitch, he is surprisingly soulful in this noir-tinged revenge thriller.
Director Scottwiper wrote the role of grieving Cockney mob enforcer Neelyn specifically for Jones with encouragement from his friend, Jones’s late wife Tanya. And it seems they have both seen hidden depths in the former footballer.
Neelyn is a role that once went to Lee Marvin but has become increasingly rare in an era of well-groomed and Botoxed 50-something Hollywood actors. Perhaps Jones has spotted a gap in a busy field.
Snappily attired London crime boss Harris (Malcolm Mcdowell) has brought his enforcer with him to Tennessee while he launders money in dodgy oilman Preston’s (Ron Perlman) latest scheme. But after a booze-sodden party to celebrate, Neelyn’s girlfriend Fiona (Lenora Crichlow) disappears.
When he discovers her body, Neelyn vows to track down her killer.
The film misses a stand-out action scene and you can feel the cash restraints in the finale. But the performances are excellent. Jones shares plenty of scenes with Mcdowell and Perlman but never feels out of place.