One doesn't have to stretch very far to know it is the typical gay story: Son is gay, serious rift in the relationship, a time of incommunicado, a reconciliation and/or realization that love is the most important principle, mother (at least) changes her views once she comes to know the friends, realizes that change can be a good thing. Prejudice: If everyone were blind, there would be no prejudice. Jacki Weaver shows a rare ability to first of all understand both sides of the argument that has too often divided families. She weaves the intricacies of the character in a way that could have never been done with scripted verbiage. She brings the fundamentalist and/or conservative Christian ethic into play without an "in-your-face" delivery. In some ways this subject matter has almost been overdone with so many different films weighing in on the same story line. Yet I was drawn in by her portrayal of the character and how she drew others into her sphere--most notably the part in the cafe where she caresses so gently the mother of another cross-dressing gay child.
There were three other disconnects for me: trying to make some other place to be San Francisco. Doesn't work. The unmistakable facades of the Fairmont and Mark Hopkins are followed up with a shot in a hotel room that looks like turnpike style of lodging. Number two: if someone is conducting a choir, why can't someone somewhere either in production or filming wake up and coordinate the sound track with the motions being made? It doesn't take a degree in music for an actor to learn upbeat, downbeat, cut offs, a 3/4 or 4/4 time signature, and then coordinate singers in a rhythm with a conductor that makes sense. It's not that hard.
For the most part the music as a whole in this film is not exactly stellar. Any more if someone has a PC, a keyboard or microphone, and a software composition program, anyone can become a composer. With so much good music literature in the public domain, low budget films don't need to rely on low to no budget songs. These were terrible. There's not a tune within ear shot that is memorable. Nobody is going to be humming these tunes in the shower tomorrow morning.
There were three other disconnects for me: trying to make some other place to be San Francisco. Doesn't work. The unmistakable facades of the Fairmont and Mark Hopkins are followed up with a shot in a hotel room that looks like turnpike style of lodging. Number two: if someone is conducting a choir, why can't someone somewhere either in production or filming wake up and coordinate the sound track with the motions being made? It doesn't take a degree in music for an actor to learn upbeat, downbeat, cut offs, a 3/4 or 4/4 time signature, and then coordinate singers in a rhythm with a conductor that makes sense. It's not that hard.
For the most part the music as a whole in this film is not exactly stellar. Any more if someone has a PC, a keyboard or microphone, and a software composition program, anyone can become a composer. With so much good music literature in the public domain, low budget films don't need to rely on low to no budget songs. These were terrible. There's not a tune within ear shot that is memorable. Nobody is going to be humming these tunes in the shower tomorrow morning.
