"Uncle Frank" a poignant and well-performed coming-out/coming-of-age film

Uncle Frank (2020)

It has been too long since 2008’s “Towelhead,” the directorial debut of screenwriter Alan Ball (1999’s “American Beauty” and HBO’s 2001-2005 series “Six Feet Under”), but he makes up for the time with period dramedy “Uncle Frank.” Writer-director Ball reflects on the before and after of a traumatic experience, as well as his own coming-out, through the prism of someone else's coming-of-age story. While it may feel like overreaching for pathos, “Uncle Frank” is neither a soapy, mawkish pile of goo, nor is it a wacky road-trip farce. Hitting thorny, sensitive subject matter like sexuality, alcoholism, and suicide, the film is rather poignant and beautifully affecting with emotional weight and a sweetness at its core.

Sophia Lillis (2020’s “Gretel & Hansel”) still exudes naturalism and poise even as the naïve Betty Beldsoe, who would end up changing her name to “Beth” after getting out of the podunk town of Creekville, South Carolina. Beth always looked up to her uncle Frank (Paul Bettany), a New York University professor who was always different from his conservative family and actually listened to his niece, unlike her Pabst Blue Ribbon-chugging grandfather, Daddy Mac (Stephen Root), or even her own father, Mike (Steve Zahn). In 1973, Beth goes off to the big city, enrolling in NYC and hopefully getting to know her favorite uncle more. When she crashes a party at her Uncle Frank's apartment, she ends up learning he is a closeted gay man and has been living with his Arab-American partner Walid “Wally” Nadeem (Peter Macdissi) for ten years. (Both Frank and Wally both use their Jewish lesbian friend as their “beard.”) Then Frank gets the call from his mama (Margo Martindale) that his father (and Beth’s grandfather) has died of a heart attack. Urged by Wally, Frank drives Beth back home to the funeral, unaware that Wally is trailing behind them. Frank isn't out to his family yet, but he will have to confront old demons and fall off the wagon before anything.

Told from Beth’s point-of-view as a coming-of-age story, the film slowly veers away from the 18-year-old girl to be more about Frank. That’s kind of expected, though, considering “Uncle Frank” is the title. At a certain point, the journey belongs to Paul Bettany and his nuanced, emotionally honest performance as Frank, whose acceptance from his family will feel like a new beginning. This is a character, the eldest of his siblings, who has dealt with being the disappointment to a close-minded, hard-to-please patriarch. His sobriety also stands on the precipice once his father’s death sparks the memory of past trauma as a young man (played by Cole Doman in alternately carefree and aching flashbacks) shamed for having feelings toward another young man. It would be a crime to further delay the mention of Peter Macdissi (Alan Ball's real-life partner), who is a lovely, funny ray of light and joy as Wally; he and Bettany have a sweet way with each other, and Macdissi is very real in conveying Wally’s tough love when it comes to Frank’s relapse. 

“Uncle Frank” is well-performed across the board. The trio of performances by Sophia Lillis, Paul Bettany, and Peter Macdissi are the reason to watch, but seeing such a sterling cast does make one wish there were even more scenes with Margo Martindale, as the loud but truly loving matriarch Mammaw, and Judy Greer as Beth’s daffy mother Kitty. Jane McNeil, as Frank’s open-minded sister Neva, and Lois Smith, as the oblivious, stuck-in-her-ways Aunt Butch, even stand out. Tinged with melancholy and earned hope instead of sentimentality, “Uncle Frank” is familiar but heartfelt.

Grade: B

Amazon Studios is releasing “Uncle Frank” (95 min.) on Prime Video November 25, 2020.