7/5/2023 0 Comments Cloudburst 2011 filmDotty is slightly hesitant about making it official - having already given three decades to the relationship, she thinks she might want to keep her options open for the next three - but allows herself to get talked into it, so they set off and en route Stella decides to pick up Prentice (Ryan Doucette), a hitchhiker trying to make his way back to Nova Scotia from New York, on the theory that if Molly had reported them missing and the police are looking for them, they'll be less conspicuous traveling with Prentice than they would be traveling alone together. In the face of Molly's manipulation, Stella hatches a plan to break Dotty out of the home and go on the lam with her, eventually hitting on the idea that they could go to Canada and get married in order to protect their rights as a couple. Though Stella puts up a battle (literally, getting physical with Molly's police officer husband), Dotty is taken off to the home after unwittingly giving Molly her power of attorney. Despite the fact that they are obviously a couple, Dotty's granddaughter Molly (Kristin Booth) believes that they're just friends and roommates, with Stella acting as caretaker to Dotty ever since she lost her sight, and when Dotty is injured and hospitalized, Molly swoops in to start taking control, arranging for Dotty to be put into a care home and telling Stella that she's welcome to stay on at Dotty's house until she's able to make other arrangements. Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker star as Stella and Dotty, a couple who have been together for 31 years in what is apparently a small town in the US, though it never looks or feels like anything but the Maritimes. That feels sort of revolutionary, even if the film's more overtly stated political message is slightly blunted by the fact that it relies on a straw man to make its point. Typically the elderly are depicted in pop culture as being not just sexless, but desireless as well, but Cloudburst is pretty unapologetic in portraying its couple as sexual beings. It's not daring because of its premise, which involves a long-term same-sex couple trying to get married so that they can avoid being separated and which almost seems quaint at this point, but it is kind of daring for the way that it depicts its characters and their relationship and, in particular, their sexuality. Thom Fitzgerald's Cloudburst, based on his stage play of the same name, is a surprisingly daring movie. Other than this small issue though, this film is a perfect LGBTT* movie, with tonnes of comedy and fun times and the right mix of poignancy and deeper thought.Starring: Olympia Dukakis, Brenda Fricker A final sharp turn at the end of the story was a brave writing decision, but was a little too jarring and not fully executed clearly enough to be believable (it seemed convenient to add drama to the ending of the film). The acting in this film from the three principal characters (Olympia Dukakis, Brenda Fricker, Ryan Doucette), is breathtaking. The storyline is amazing in that it combines a lot of comedic moments with some very melancholy scenery of Eastern Canada and poignant scenes with a couple that has been together through 31 years, including tough times when parts of society and family do not accept or understand same-sex relationships. The three of them have an incredible comedic adventure together. Along the way they pick up a young man hitchhiking to get home to his dying mother in Canada. Movie Review: This Canadian film about an aging Lesbian couple who go on a road trip from the USA to Canada to get married and protect their rights is an amazing tale.
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