KIER IN THE COMMUNITY (SWAN SONG)

Udo Kier is one of those character actors who many people will have seen in movies but probably not be able to identify.

The Cologne born actor has worked with an impressive stable of directors over a 55 year career - Gus Van Sandt, Martin Scorsese, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Dario Argento, Alexander Payne, Werner Herzog and Lars Von Trier among them.

However only a handful of film buffs will recognise him by name and even those people would be pretty niche - especially if they are fans of the camp Nazis in space franchise 'Iron Sky'.

Kier has had a prolific career, appearing in over 220 movies across a broad range of genres.

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He has also throughout his career been very open about his sexuality. 

The bulk of the roles Kier has taken on have been supporting parts.

So it is good to see him taking on a rare lead part as an elderly, gay hairdresser in Todd Stephens' camp comedy 'Swan Song'.

At the start of Stephens' film, Kier's Patrick Pitsenbarger is going through the motions of life in a care home.

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Keeping very much himself to himself, he nicks stacks of paper napkins from the dining room which he likes to fold neatly and also clandestinely smokes cigarettes in his room despite having recently suffered a stroke.

Occasionally, he wanders the home and secretly shares a cigarette with a woman confined to a wheelchair.

This penchant for sneaky cigarettes sometimes lands him in trouble with Roshon Thomas' disapproving nurse Shaundell.

One day, though, the monotony of life in the care home is broken when Tom Bloom's lawyer Walter Shamrock turns up, offering Patrick one last hairdressing job in Sandusky, Ohio.

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A former client, Linda Evans' society dame and local Republican Party chair, Rita Parker Sloan has passed away and has specifically asked in her will that Patrick does her hair and make-up while she is placed in her casket.

As an inducement, the lawyer dangles the prospect of Patrick receiving $25,000 for his work.

However Patrick and Rita had a falling out before he retired.

Even though she was one of his favourite clients, the blood initially appears to be just too bad and he turns Shamrock's offer down.

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Not long afterwards, Patrick has a change of heart and sets off on foot to Sandusky, Ohio to carry out Rita's last wish.

Dressed in faded clothes and looking a little grubby, he knows what equipment and hair products he requires.

However they are not that easy to acquire and his trek reveals a very changed world since he was last in Sandusky.

The town is much more tolerant of the LGBTQ community than it was for much of the time he lived there.

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The home he once shared has also been raised to the ground and a former rival hairdresser, Jennifer Coolidge's Dee Dee Dale is hugely successful.

Approached by him for help in sourcing the products, Dee Dee harbours bitterness towards him and sneers at his desperation.

When Patrick is not trying to beg, borrow and steal for his last job, he hangs out in a local LGBTQ bar with drag queens and catches up with an old friend, Ira Hawkins' Eunice.

Patrick is also given a warm welcome by Rita's nephew Michael Urie's Dustin and over the course of the film, we watch the German emigrant coming to terms with grief for a former partner who died of AIDS, for the life he once lived and for the ex client who he adored despite being "a Republican Party monster".

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'Swan Song' is an affectionate tribute to the people of Sandusky.

However it is also an oddly rambling movie that never quite hits the bullseye.

Stephens' script lacks focus and you are left with a series of vaguely amusing but occasionally dull encounters between Patrick and the other characters.

What it does have going for it is Kier's performance which is full of charm and manages to wring the most out of a rather frustrating screenplay.

Camp costumes and lighting also cannot hide the screenplay's weaknesses.

Although it has to be acknowledged Kier does a very good line in faded glory and he brings a vulnerability to the part of Patrick as he adjusts to a very changed world outside the care home.

Coolidge too is a real joy, while Urie, Thomas and Hawkins are also in good form.

It is amusing too to see Linda Evans' back onscreen or, as 'Dynasty' fans wi know her - Krystal Carrington.

Ultimately, though, 'Swan Song' feels like a bit of a half tank movie - full of camp promise but dragging and stuttering as it approaches its final destination.

While Kier proves he is up to the task of carrying a lead role, it's just a pity the film barely makes it there.

The German veteran's performance deserves much better.

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Hopefully this won't be a swan song lead performance.

Kier deserves to get another moment to shine as a lead in a movie worthy of his talent.

(Swan Song was released in UK and Irish cinemas on June 10, 2022)