FEAR AND LOATHING (UNCLE FRANK)

  

In this age of streaming platforms acquiring movies and producing their own TV series, it's simply too hard to catch up with everything.

Every now and again, a decent film, TV sitcom or drama series slips past us while Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple+, Britbox and Disney+ shout every week for our attention.

And that's before you even get to the content being distributed on the streaming arms of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky, UK Gold and RTE.

Add to that the growth of video on demand film releases during the Covid-19 pandemic and you just have to raise the white flag.

As we wade through the algorithms and pan for cinematic TV or movie gold, the odd nugget is going to slip by.

Alan Ball's 'Uncle Frank' was released on Amazon Prime last year, in November 2020, with not a lot of fanfare.

The story of a gay uncle returning from New York with his niece to South Carolina in Nixon's America, it was snapped up quickly by Amazon after its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Paul Bettany is Frank Bledsoe, a college professor, who is often treated abominably at family gatherings in South Carolina by his grouchy, domineering father, Stephen Root's Daddy Mac.

He is, however, adored by his niece, Sophia Lillis' Beth Bledsoe who he encourages to read classic literature and reach her full academic potential.

Beth lands a place at the same college in New York and along with her father Steve Zahn's Mike and mother, Judy Greer's Kitty are invited to dinner by Frank when she arrives in the city.

Britt Rentschler's lesbian Charlotte poses as Frank's "slutty" Jewish girlfriend during the dinner and Mike, Kitty and Beth are none the wiser.

Soon Beth finds herself a boyfriend, Colton Ryan's Bruce who is excited to learn that she is Frank's nice, insisting on an introduction.

At his behest, they both gatecrash a party being thrown in Frank's apartment where Beth consumes too many martinis and Bruce makes an awkward pass at Frank, only to be rebuffed.

Frank's partner of ten years, Peter Macdissi's Wally, who is originally from Saudi Arabia, is excited to see Beth, having heard so much about her over the years.

And while she recovers from consuming too much alcohol, Frank comes out to her about his sexuality and about his relationship with Wally.

When word reaches Frank that Daddy Mac has passed away, Wally insists his boyfriend should go to the funeral.

With Beth advised not to fly to South Carolina, he reluctantly agrees to drive her but on condition that Wally does not venture south as well.

The journey to South Carolina inevitably dredges up some uncomfortable memories that raise questions about Frank's discomfort about admitting to his sexual orientation around his family.

But it will also challenge the bond between uncle and niece.

'Uncle Frank' is very much a vehicle for Paul Bettany to demonstrate his acting chops and he certainly steps up to deliver one of the finest performances of his career.

Frank is a kind hearted, intelligent but damaged soul and as Ball's movie progresses, the actor exposes the chinks in his character's armour.

As you would expect from the writer of 'American Beauty' and the creator of HBO's 'Six Feet Under,' Ball proves adept in wallowing in all the family dysfunction.

But he also draws out tender performances from Zahn, Greer, Margo Martindale as Frank's mother and Lois Smith as his sister that do not soft soap the homophobia among some characters in South Carolina.

Lillis is very much the second violin in Ball's tale and allows Bettany to truly shine, while Root portrays the type of dyed in the wool, curmudgeonly old bigot you would expect in a drama of this kind.

Much of the light relief comes from Macdissi who is the real find in Ball's movie and, for the short period of time that she is onscreen, Rentschler.

Macdissi skilfully handles Wally's back story about concealing his own sexually from his family back in Saudi.

While some critics have dismissed Ball's drama as another entry in a genre of Appalachian dysfunctional family movies alongside Ron Howard's Netflix flick 'Hillbilly Elegy,' the film it will most remind audiences of is Peter Farrelly's 2019 Best Picture Oscar winner 'Green Book'.

Like Farrelly's period piece, Ball's tackles prejudice in the South but wraps its story in a sweet confection.

Ball's movie is every bit its equal and benefits from some handsome cinematography from Khalid Mohtaseb - particularly when the story shifts to South Carolina.

Ultimately, it is Bettany's film and you are left wondering how his performance has been overlooked in the opening exchanges during awards season.

It deserves a lot more noise but maybe timing is everything and while lesser films with bigger names have attracted awards buzz, maybe, just maybe in time audiences will discover this modest but rewarding tale.

('Uncle Frank' was released on Amazon Prime on November 25, 2020)