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Writer-director Alan Ball (screenwriter of American Beauty) helms this comedy-drama about the Bledsoe family of Creekville, South Carolina. Set mostly in the early 1970s, it s the story of Frank (Paul Bettany), who s secretly gay, and his niece, Beth (Sophia Lillis), who feels most akin to Frank a quiet, thoughtful man amid Southern rednecks. Frank escaped small-town Southern life and teaches literature at an NYC college, where Beth now attends as a freshman. Beth s father, Mike (Steve Zahn), is a classic Southerner, but the patriarch of the family Frank and Mike s father, Daddy Mac (Stephen Root) is a cruel, closed-minded bigot. When Daddy Mac dies of a sudden heart attack, Frank agrees to drive home with Beth to attend the funeral. Unbeknownst to them, Frank s boyfriend of 10 years, Walid Wally Nadeem (Peter Macdissi), rents a car and follows them, hoping to lend emotional support to Frank. Mixing flashbacks to Frank s younger years (young Fr
Uncle Frank - Film Review From Oscar winner Alan Ball (Source: Amazon Studios) By Craig Thornton | December 31, 2020 at 12:00 PM EST - Updated January 4 at 10:54 AM
WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWNY) -
Uncle Frank – Movie Review
In 2000 Alan Ball won an Oscar for the original screenplay of “American Beauty.” He then went on to develop such iconic, dark and edgy series as “Six Feet Under,” “True Blood” and the short lived, “Here and Now.” I am a huge fan and I remember the standing ovation “American Beauty” received when I saw at a screening in Los Angeles in 1999. Ball’s work is great at blending, despair, dark comedy – there are laugh out loud moments in American Beauty – and character empathy for morally ambiguous characters. His sensibility has always felt more European, more complex, and more independent than mainstream Hollywood.
Paul Bettany (center) in the lead roll of ‘Uncle Frank’ along with Sophia Lillis (left) and Peter Macdissi (right) in a scene from the film. The production is a project of Amazon Studios and comes from screenwriter and director Alan Ball. (Photo Credit: EPK TV)
“Uncle Frank” (Amazon Studios), the second full-length feature from gay, Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Alan Ball (“True Blood,” “Six Feet Under”), takes us back to the last half of the 20th century, and the less tolerant South.
Frank (Paul Bettany) escaped the strangulation of his southern roots and headed for Manhattan, where he could be himself. During a family visit, he bonds with his bright, young niece Beth (Sophia Lillis), whom he encourages to consider applying to college in New York when the time comes. His words of support pay off and she gets into New York University. But Beth’s education doesn’t only take place in the classroom, as she is soon immersed in the world of her uncle and hi
A Look Back on the Year 2020 in Queer Cinema
By Gary Kramer–
2020 was unlike any other year for moviegoing as most of it was done at home. But that doesn’t mean there were not great films. Looking back at the year in queer cinema, here are ten highlights all available for home viewing.
Out gay writer/director Levan Akin’s tender romantic drama
And Then We Danced was the first queer feature from Georgia. Merab (Levan Galbakhiani) is a closeted dancer in the Georgian National dance company who falls for Irakli (Bachi Valishvili). They soon initiate a clandestine affair, however, the lovers also become rivals for a position in the main ensemble. How things play out, in both love and dance, form the emotional cores of this compelling film.