In The Family (2011)

Directed by: Patrick Wang


Starring: Sebastian Banes, Patrick Wang, Trevor St. John


The Main Review: In the Family is a 2011 film that highlights the struggles homosexual couples can go through due to the prohibition of gay marriage. When Joey's partner, Cody, dies, Cody's sister takes over as legal guardian of Chip, Joey and Cody's son. Chip is taken away from his father and Joey is slowly cut off from the family he gained through Cody. So, with the help of his friends, Joey sets out to find a solution.

You can smell that deep, touching movie smell from a mile away.

The movie starts with a normal day in Cody, Joey, and Chip's lives. Joey is a contractor, Cody is a math teacher and Chip, their six year old, is adorably precocious. However, all of that is taken away quite suddenly when Cody gets into a car accident. After not even being allowed to visit him in the hospital, Joey is informed that Cody has died.

Joey and Chip are both grieved, but they struggle and manage. However, Joey is informed by Cody's sister, Eileen, that she was named the sole heir to Cody's inheritance in his will (which hadn't been updated since Cody was born). This placed her as Chip's legal guardian. She thanks Joey for being a good parent for all of those years and assures him that Chip will be well taken care of. Joey is outraged and refuses to give up his son. However, that Thanksgiving, when Chip goes to visit his grandmother, he's nowhere to be found when Joey comes to pick him up. A few days later, Joey is given a restraining order.

Joey talks to many lawyers who all tell him he has no case. However, Paul, a retired lawyer whose house Joey is contracting for, offers to help him. Joey says he wants a deposition and he meets up with Eileen, her husband, and their lawyer.

Here's Where It Gets Spoilerific: So, throughout all of this, there are some flashbacks. We learn that Cody was married to Rebecca when Joey became the contractor on their house. Rebecca was pregnant with Chip and she died shortly after he was born. Joey was a constant help to Cody and, about seven months later when the house is finished, Cody makes a move on Joey. And then six years later, here we are.

At the deposition, Joey is question by some jerk lawyer (who asks inappropriate things like, "How did you seduce Cody?" and "Are you a pedophile?"). He then gets to explain his side of everything in such a beautiful way. He says he'll give up the house and any bank accounts he shared with Cody just for an opportunity to get his son back. Eileen and her husband are obviously shaken by what Joey says and walk out of the deposition.

A while later, Eileen's husband shows up on Joey's doorstep as he's packing. He explains how sorry he is for the whole situation. He tells Joey he can stay in the house and that Eileen is just having a hard time figuring out what's best to do. He gets Joey to come outside and yells out to Eileen (whose in the car) to come out and speak to Joey herself. Just as she does, Chip jumps out of the car with her and rushes over to hug his dad. 

Scenes To Watch Out For: When Cody kisses Joey for the first time. That whole scene is brilliant.

The deposition. All of it was very well done.

Despite it's abruptness, when Chip suddenly jumps out of the car and into his daddy's arms - it's the sweetest ending I can think of for this film.

Anything Else: In The Family does not rush itself. Because of this, it's just a bit short of about three hours long. So, I think, before this film can be picked up, it might need to be edited a smidgen. However, the story really was lovely and intriguing. I hope I see it again someday.

Cloudburst (2011)

Directed by: Thom Fitzgerald


Starring: Olympia Dukakis, Brenda Ficker, Ryan Doucette


The Main Review: Cloudburst is a 2011 film about two aging lesbians on their way to Canada. Stella, the foul mouthed, cowboy hat-wearing, tequila-drinking alpha female, and Dottie, the sweet, blind woman Stella is very in love with, are separated when Dottie's granddaughter tricks her into entering a nursing home. Stella liberates Dottie and they decide to go to Canada so they can legally marry after being together for thirty-one years. It's like a happier Thelma and Louise.

They even have a sexy Brad Pitt character.

So, Dottie and Stella have been living together for thirty-one years. They're clearly in love. Dottie, now blind, it taken care of solely by Stella. However, when Dottie falls off a bed (from being tickled by Stella with a vibrator), Molly, her granddaughter, thinks it's time for Dottie to be put in a old-folks home. Molly has no idea about Dottie and Stella's relationship - thinking that they're just best friends. So, telling her grandmother that she's signing something that clears Stella of any responsibility after the accident, Molly is able to dupe her grandmother in agreeing to move to a nursing home.

When Stella finds out, she's furious. So, once Dot is gone, she immediately plans a way to free Dot, which she does, and they hit the road. They stop in a diner and, after discussing how Stella could better take care of Dot if they were married, Stella proposes and Dot accepts to try being married to her. So, they set off to Canada. Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker, Prentice, a modern dancer on his way to Canada as well to visit his dying mother. 


As they get closer to the border, Stella starts to get paranoid. She suggests that they split up - Dot and Prentice crossing into Canada together and her meeting them there later. Dot and Prentice do make it but, due to Stella's foul mouth, she has a harder time finding someone to give her a ride. Prentice doubles back and gets her. However, they get stopped at the border and Stella's big mouth (and the fact that they still have Dot's medication in the car) gets the two of them questioned and Prentice cavity searched. After this, the two of them are released and, despite Prentice's obvious anger at Stella, they pick up Dot together and head to Prentice's family's house.


Here's Where It Gets Spoilerific: Once there, Prentice greets his mother, Cat - who claims to not really be dying (on that day at least). Dot uses their bathroom and then decides to lie down for a minute. She, unfortunately, ends up in bed with Cat's (very naked) husband and gets, uh... I think the correct phrase is tea-bagged. Dot runs out of the house to Stella and there is a (very naked) chase scene. 


Prentice offers to take his mother away from her mean husband, but she declines, saying he has no way to take care of her. So, Prentice leaves with Stella and Dot. They get their marriage licences and a time the next day to get married. Prentice takes them to a bar and gives them a very touching best-man speech.

The next day, Dot and Stella go to get married. However, Molly and her husband, Tommy, show up (Stella called her during a moment of doubt) and tries to stop the wedding. She gets called out on tricking her grandmother into signing away her assets and is arrested. They all go to the police station and Molly and Dot have a heart to heart.

Dot, Stella and Prentice are driving away when Dot starts to have a heart attack. She demands that Prentice marry her and Stella in the car. Molly and Tommy call an ambulance but Dottie passes quickly. Stella and Prentice talk about Dot and, at her funeral, Prentice does Dottie's favorite modern dance number.

Scenes To Watch Out For: When Stella breaks Dot out of the nursing home. Genius!

Stella's monologue praising the c-word.

Dot and Stella's marriage in the truck.

Prentice's modern dance number at Dot's funeral. Stella just laughs and laughs while everyone else considers if this is offensive or not.

Anything Else: This movie has a fantastic way of putting very sad situations in a funnier light. For example, Dot and Stella's truck-marriage and Dot's funeral sound very sad and, while it is, the way it's done is rather amusing. So, even when something so terrible is happening, we're able to see something a little on the brighter side. I think that's pretty amazing.

North Sea Texas (2011)

Directed By: Bavo Defurne


Starring: Jelle Florizoone, Mathais Vergels, Nin Marie Kortekaas


The Main Review: North Sea Texas is a 2011 Belgian film. It's actual title is Noordzee Texas but we're 'Murican here, so we'll use it's English name. It follows Pim as he's growing up, and his neighbors, Gino, Sabrina and their mother, Marcella.  It has some of the most beautiful cinematography and the acting is all solid. Of course, Pim and Gino have a relationship. And Pim has a gypsy named Zoltan staying in his house. And his mom plays the accordion!

I totally relate to this coming of age love story. Totally.

It begins with little Pim, who likes to get naked and put on his mother's tiara and sash from her beauty queen years. His mother finds him one day and while she doesn't seem mad, he runs off, crying. He's found by Marcella. He meets Gino and Sabrina, her children. Because the family is so accepting of him and kind, he makes sure to visit whenever he can from then on.

Years go by and Pim is obviously taken with Gino. He has a little box of collected things - which include his mother's tiara and sash as well as tokens from Gino. Gino and he have sex for the first time in a tent the day before Pim's fifteenth birthday. They continue to get it on in the wilderness once Gino gets his motorcycle.

However, it's discovered that Gino has a French girlfriend, Françoise. Pim is obviously distressed and it seems that he may have only been something in Gino's "experimental" years. However, Pim's promiscuous, semi-negligent mother takes in Zoltan as a boarder. Zoltan had been a previous boarder and seemed to come and go with the fun fair. Both Pim and his mother are clearly smitten with this guy. I mean, who doesn't love a man with a self-labeling arm tattoo?

 Here's Where It Gets Spoilerfic: Pim walks in on his mother and Zoltan gettin' busy and he runs away. When he comes home, the two of them are gone. He goes to live with Sabrina and Marcella (Gino moved away to live with Françoise). Marcella, however, is very ill and she has to be hospitalized. Before she passes, she shows Gino and Sabrina a photo of their father (whom they'd never seen) and make it clear that she's okay with Gino and Pim being together. 


After she dies, Pim and Sabrina straighten up both of their houses and get themselves on track. Gino shows up when Sabrina's out and tells Pim he wants to be with him. They kiss and the movie ends.


Scenes To Watch Out For: The scene with Little Pim walking around his mother's room, talking to his imaginary maid, Maria, and putting on the sash and tiara. Absolutely adorable.


When seventeen year old Gino just starts masturbating in front of Pim (and Pim follows suit). My friends don't just start touching themselves when there's a lull in conversation... Do my friends not like me?


When Gino and Pim have sex in the tent, it is one of the most beautiful scenes I've witnessed. The sound of their hushed love-making becomes one with the low rustling of the grass. 

When Marcella is in the hospital, Gino and Pim both take one of her hands. She moves and places the boys' hands together as a sign that she knows they have feelings for each other. It's very touching.

Anything Else: As I said, the cinematography is brilliant. I wish this movie all the luck in the world. I hope American audience can just accept subtitles for once... And homosexuality. But, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride, I guess.

Tomboy (2011)

Directed By: Céline Sciamma


Starring: Zoé Héran, Jeanne Disson, Malonn Lévana


The Main Review: Tomboy, released in 2011, follows a genderqueer ten-year-old who moves into a new neighborhood and uses her anonymity to pass as a boy for a summer. Laure becomes Mikael when with friends and is closeted at home. It's said to be a story about the complexities of gender. A nice, French coming-of-age trans-flick.

Wait a second. It's a French film? But French films often have such unfulfilling endings! Oh, God dammit.

At the beginning of the film, Laure has just moved into a new neighborhood with her father, pregnant mother, and absolutely adorable younger sister, Jeanne. Laure meets Lisa, one of the girls in the neighborhood, who mistakes her for a boy. Laure tells Lisa that her name is Mikael. Mikael and Lisa go to play with the other kids and things seem fine. Lisa and Mikael even seem to have a cute little childhood romance thing goin' on - they even kiss (twice!).

Eventually, Jeanne finds out that her sister has been telling everyone she's a boy. However, after Mikael promises to take her out to meet his friends, she becomes his biggest ally. She talks about how great her big brother is and cuts his hair so their mom won't suspect anything. It's damn cute, really.

Here's Where It Gets Spoilerific: In defense of his little sister, Mikael gets into a fight with another boy. That boy's mother takes this up with Mikael's mom. Mikael's mother then forces him to wear a dress and  tell the boy he beat up and Lisa that he's actually a she. After this, Laure is found by the Lisa and the boys and Lisa checks to see which gender she really is.

The next scene is of Laure not wanting to go out. Her mother is asks if she wants to play with the other children and Laure is definitely not up for that idea. However, from her window, she sees Lisa, who gestures for her to come outside. Once there, Lisa asks what her real name is. Laure responds with her birth name and then smiles. The movie ends.

...What?

Scenes To Watch Out For: Jeanne telling another little girl about her super swell big brother. It's adorable.

Laure/Mikael's mom telling him that she's totally fine with him being a boy and that her forcing him to wear a dress and tell his friends so abruptly is a good idea. None of that seems like a lie or anything.

Anything Else: I can't really tell how I feel about the ending. On one hand, this could be a statement about gender fluidity. It could be saying that Laure learned to be comfortable as a boy and as a girl. However, due to how much Mikael liked being Mikael and wanted to hold onto that, I almost feel as though this little boy is being forced to be a girl at the end of the film just so he can be accepted. Due to the way the film just ended, I really cannot tell what was being said. (And this is why I just love, love, love French films.)


As an odd side note, the synopses for Tomboy each seem to tell a different story. IMDb claims that this is a movie about a little girl who gets mistaken as a boy and gets stuck in that misunderstanding, too embarrassed to correct anyone. On the other hand, Netflix says that Tomboy is about a girl who's uncomfortable as a female and decides to become Mikael. If that's not a weird difference, I don't know what is.