Directed by
Travis Fine
97 minutes
Rated M
Reviewed by
Sharon Hurst
Any Questions
Synopsis: It’s the 1970s and Rudy Donatello (Alan Cumming) cross-dresses and sings in a gay bar. When his drug-addicted neighbour abandons her teenage Down Syndrome son, Marco (Isaac Leyva), Rudy temporarily takes the boy under his wing. But when he and his new partner, lawyer Paul Fleiger (Garret Dillahunt), decide to formally adopt Marco they discover that the law does not look kindly upon gay relationships, let alone gay adoption.
Based upon a true story from the late '70s, this film is almost as relevant today as it was then when life was much more fraught for gays. Paul, as a lawyer in a conservative firm feels the need to remain firmly in the closet lest he lose his job whilst Rudy is more open about his life, flaunting his sexual proclivity. At social events the two are careful to cover up that they are partners although many people suspect the truth, mostly with disapproval. But the real drama comes regarding the child. Even though the mother of Marco leads a dissolute life of drug-taking and prostitution, exposing Marco to damaging experiences, society at large and the judiciary in particular, seem to think this situation is preferable to the boy being with a gay couple who embrace him as family and who actually want to raise him when few others do.
Despite being committed to addressing issues, the film will also entertain on many levels as it is a sensitively scripted, intelligently directed and beautifully acted piece. Scottish-born Cumming has a face that one always seems to know, although not from where. In this role he pulls out all the stops to achieve a delicate balance between the brashness of Rudy’s lip-synching, sequin-touting alter ego and his empathetically loving self. Dillahunt is solid as the obviously uncomfortable Paul, only recently discovering his penchant for men and learning from his new lover that there are things worth bringing his legal skills to fight for. Leyva is simply beautiful as Marco, giving a heart-warming performance that can’t help but bring a tear to the eye in many scenes.
Music features large in the film. Beyond his drag-queen act, Rudy is also a writer of original songs, and again Cumming handles this to perfection. The use of archetypical '70s music by bands such as T-Rex and Funkadelic augment the sense of the era, while Cumming’s performance of Dylan’s “I Shall be Released” gives the film one of its most poignant moments. The courtroom scenes with Frances Fisher as the judge who, whilst sympathising with the men, also tends to hold with a mother’s rights to her child, regardless of the situation serves to bring to light the moral conflicts involved.
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