Film discussion: Grandma
I usually write my announcements of coming discussions without having seen the films and I’m out of practice for framing my own thoughts. But here goes.
Grandma is a story of an aging grandmother whose granddaughter shows up one day saying that she needs $613. Grandma (Lily Tomlin) isn’t the kind of person to relish this human contact, but she takes on the quest to raise the money for reasons of her own. And it’s really the revelation of her motives (and her story) that drives the movie.
You should see Grandma if you, like me, love Lily Tomlin. She’s easy to underestimate as an actress because she doesn’t need to chew scenery to hold your attention. Whenever the script has someone else talking (and there are a couple of high-wattage actors for her to play against), I wish it were Lily instead.
You should see Grandma if, like me, you’re an aging feminist who can’t quite understand how much the gains of the feminist movement are now either taken for granted or are completely unknown to the young people who are the beneficiaries of the previous generation’s struggle.
You should see Grandma if you’re in the mood for a fairly quiet story (despite some shouting) that has deep undercurrents in it.
I can promise you that you will leave Grandma with a slightly fuller heart than you had when you arrived. There’s not much overt sweetness in it, but there is nourishment. And quite a few laughs along the way.
If you think you’ll like Grandma, you’re probably right. If you’re not sure, you probably will. And if you think you won’t, you may be wrong. I think it’s worth finding out. At the very least, you can figure out if you ever want to trust my film recommendations again.
I hope to see you there. (There = 7:00 in the Historic Theater.)
Paul Goodwin
TMHMG
p.s. This is the first of three Tuesdays in a row with film discussions. Next week on November 3, we will be watching Learning to Drive, with Patricia Clarkson (another personal favorite) and Ben Kingsley. Then, on November 10, we will have a distinct change of pace with Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery, a documentary about a legendary art forger who fooled the world’s experts for almost 40 years.