Movie Number 28 of 2024
The Movie: Thelma
The Cinema: The Deckchair Cinema, Darwin
Stars: 4.5
I bought my ticket to Thelma this morning, going over in my head how I was going to get home after the film. Darwin is not a place where you wander around alone after 8 pm. You're probably going to be fine, but do you want to take the risk?
Five minutes later, my friend Beth messages me. She's my old P.E. teacher from high school and we've become lunch buddies over the 18 months I've been coming up here. She has a friend staying with her. She asked if I was going to tonight's session of Thelma. I was glad to be sharing this film with Beth and her friend, Also, ride home solved.
A couple of colleagues also joined us too to see this absolute gem of a film, based on a true story.
This is an absolute hoot! The fact that it's loosely based on the writer/director's own grandmother makes it even better.
The movie starts with 93-year-old Thelma (the fantastic June Squibb - who is a few years older than her onscreen character) receiving computer lessons from her slacker grandson, Daniel (Fred Hechinger). There is a lot of mileage to be gained from this first scene. For anybody with aging parents and grandparents, we've all been there, but Daniel is kind, and thorough, with his grandmother. She also has all the gadgets - the wrist band alarm, the high-tech hearing aids - you name it.
(And I know my mother reads this blog - Mum, go and see this if you can - you'd love it).
Thelma is also living independently - but for how much longer, nobody is sure. Escalating health issues make her living along after the recent death of her husband somewhat tenuous.
It's when Thelma gets scammed, when a caller she believes to be her grandson calls for money, that Thelma comes into her own. She is determined to get her money back, enlisting the aid of her friend Ben (Richard Roundtree) the two embark on a journey across Los Angeles to get her money back. An extra character in the film is Ben's mobility scooter, which has a character all of its own. As does Ben's catatonic roommate, Starey Gary.
Add to this Thelma's worried daughter (a playing to type Parker Posey) and son-in-law Alan (Clark Gregg) showing the very real difficulties of aging parents, you get a good grip on the family dynamics.
Writer/director Josh Margolin has done an amazing done of this. If you're yet to witness the realities of aging parents and the challenges that can befall a family, this movie shows a few of the realities.
But the joy of this film is June Squibb as the plucky, funny, headstrong Thelma, who will get her money back by hook or crook. This film is a fantastic vehicle for the 95-year-old Squibb. It's also a reminder that life doesn't end at 40.
Oh, and did I tell you that this is laugh-out-loud funny, and it will keep you on the edge of your seat as Thelma and Ben cross L.A. on their quest?
Even better. In the credits, you get to meet the actual Thelma, who is now aged 103. Thelma's home in the movie is the actual Thelma's home. It looks like every grandmother's place across the Western World. You'll relate to something.
Thelma is going to be a sleeper hit. Take your Mum and have a laugh. But most of all, go and watch this sleeper hit as it delves beautifully into the heartbreak of getting older and that deep within these people is a young person wanting to break out and do something amazing.
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