Many will read the cover or description of this movie online
and walk away from it, offended by the content and talking about politics and
statements made by Hollywood without ever having watched the movie. As someone
who leans right and believes in God I’m included in a group that takes heat for
my beliefs from those who are just as intolerant on the other side of the coin.
So let me say something up front. GRANDMA is a good movie. It’s a movie that
should be seen and discussed with an open mind and all politics pushed aside.
The movie tells the tale of Sage (Julia Garner), a teenage
girl who goes to her grandma Elle (Lily Tomlin) with a problem: she’s pregnant,
has scheduled an abortion for late that afternoon and needs the money to have
it done. Elle is an aging poetry writer and college professor who has just
broken off her romance with Olivia (Judy Greer). Yes that means she’s a
lesbian. Heads are spinning and tongues are already wagging based on the
abortion and lesbian aspects of the movie. But hang on and stick with it rather
than be offended.
Elle loves her granddaughter and would do anything to help
her. The problem is she is broke. Debt free she paid off her cards and cut them
up to make a wind chime. With no cash on hand she tries to figure out a way to
get the $600 Sage needs to get the abortion done. So why does Sage go to her
grandma for help instead of her own mother? It turns out that mom is not
someone she wants to confront about this issue. But Sage isn’t the only one who
doesn’t want to deal with her mother. Elle has no interest in doing so either.
The dup hit the road in Elle’s mode of transportation, an old 1955 Dodge Royal
that belonged to the love of her life Violet who has since passed away. The
movie is spent as the pair try to find the funds while revisiting the past of
Elle.
Their first stop is the young man who was part and parcel
with Sage’s getting pregnant. A young slacker whose home has all the
accoutrements of the type (plenty of pot, beer and game systems) claims he has
no money for Sage and tries to lay the blame off on Sage. Not a smart thing to
do with grandma on hand.
The pair move on to an attempt to sell some first edition
books in Elle’s collection. The books are feminist tomes that were famous at
one time and now nothing more than a memory of the past. They inspired many
when they were new but have become forgotten to a younger generation that seems
only interested in the present and themselves than anything else. Elle’s
discussion of this fact reveals this truth while not harping on it.
From stop to stop, location to location, it keeps looking as
if they will not make their deadline or raise the funds they need. One of the
most dramatic scenes involves them visiting an old flame of Elle’s played by
Sam Elliott. Elliott was a man that Elle was in love with at one time, someone
she did wrong all those many years ago by leaving him as she discovered her
true sexuality. That he is willing to even speak with her offers a tense
moment. Where that discussion goes makes for more drama in a few minutes than
many films have in 2 hours.
I won’t reveal the end results here but things do come to a
conclusion. But it’s not the abortion or the fact that Elle is a lesbian that
are the centerpieces of this film. It is the interaction between a young woman
and her elder. It is a love story that if you were to replace the characters
with a man and a woman there would be no question or controversy involved, it
would just be a love story that shows powerful feelings between two characters.
The writing is such that if the controversial topics were replaced the movie
would have had a huge following and garnered favorable attention from most
movie goers. That it didn’t get the attention except for critical acclaim is
sad. There is a great story here as well as performances that touch the heart.
Some will not be able to set aside their beliefs long enough
to watch this 79 minute film. It will be their loss. Rather than walk away from
it entirely it could be a good starting place for a dialogue about the individual
characters and their choices in life as opposed to a way to condemn or
celebrate the things they represent. That would then open the door to discuss
those things. Elle is not a common woman nor is she as simple as some would
think. She is much more complex than most and deserves our attention. Beneath
her rough exterior and caustic tongue is a woman who loved, a romantic at heart
and a person who we can care for by the end of the film. All you have to do is
take a chance and watch the film.
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