Rough road back home for gay man
Set in the early 1970s, “Uncle Frank” is about a gay New York University professor, a recovering alcoholic who is still closeted to his family, returning home to smalltown South Carolina for his bigoted father’s funeral. Considering the premise, it’s apt to recall the Serenity Prayer, embraced by some 12step programs:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
Ultimately, writerdirector Alan Ball’s predictable but engaging drama is about acceptance and courage.
Wisdom? Well, that’s a work in progress.
The film is seen through the eyes of Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis), the niece of Frank Bledsoe (Paul Bettany). Beth grew up in Frank’s hometown and always looked up to him — he’s the cool uncle, mysterious and educated. “He was the only adult who looked me in the eye and listened to what I had to say.”
When she enters NYU as a freshman, she quickly learns that Uncle Frank is gay and is instantly OK with it. Still, it’s pretty surprising, not only because, to her knowledge, he’s the first gay man she’s ever met, but also because Frank has had a partner for close to 10 years, a native of Saudi Arabia named Walid (Peter Macdissi).
Beth’s eyes are opened by the gay life considered acceptable in 1973 Greenwich Village, back then one of the few places in the country where that was the case (and in San Francisco, obviously). The true Uncle Frank, she is beginning to know, is not just the smart, reserved guy who visited during holidays, but a vivacious man with a zest for life and liberal education.
However, when Frank learns that his father (Stephen Root) — who once caught a teenage Frank with a local boy and has hated his son ever since — has died, the closeted Frank must return home. He and Beth drive back for the funeral, but they are soon joined, against Frank’s wishes, by Walid.
Walid believes that Frank is going to need all the emotional support he can get, and the plan is for him to stay at a motel out of sight, there when Frank needs him. But as we come to find out, Walid is also worried that Frank’s emotions are ripe for a relapse into alcoholism, and those worries turn out to be well founded.
“I won’t go through that with you again,” Walid warns Frank.
Ball’s achievement is that he doesn’t shy away from Frank’s raw pain, and yet he has made a largely warm, friendly movie with characters you want to spend time with, starting with the traveling trio of Frank, Walid and Beth.
Margo Martindale is Frank’s everloving mom, and Steve Zahn is well cast as Frank’s brother Mike, who has inherited some of his father’s bigoted beliefs. Hannah Black is sister Janis, and Judy Greer is sisterinlaw Kitty.
Even dotty Aunt Butch, played by 90yearold Lois Smith, is a welcome presence (Smith costarred with James Dean in “East of Eden” and has been constantly working since).
The center of the movie, of course, is Bettany’s terrific performance. As a man caught between not just two worlds, but three — the third being the haunting memories of his teenage years — he evokes sympathy even in his anger. His Frank has worked through many issues, but challenges await, including the everelusive concept of forgiveness.
Acceptance is the key.