ALONG CAME WANDA
(LGBTQ+/ROMANTIC COMEDY/DRAMA)
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY JAN MILLER CORRAN
STARRING CONSTANCE BRENNEMAN, CATHY DEBUONO, MONICA YOUNG, ROBERTA HANLEN, AND ADAM HUSS
SYNOPSIS:A memory jogged by a teapot from an old lover quickly turns into an adventure of discovery for Mary Beth Higgins and her new found friend Wanda as they hit the road in Wanda's RV/Soup Truck.
WHAT THIS MOVIE DOES WELL: I have to say I didn't really know how to feel about this film when it started and until about 10 minutes in I was being quite unfair, but having said that, the funny thing was it never lost me. In fact on the contrary, shortly thereafter that thought it snuck up, bit me, and then proceeded to hit me over the head over and over until finally I realized, what I was watching was kind of special and unique. Then I never doubted it again. This movie is charming, refreshingly real without being too strongly overdramatic, funny, quirky, and a lot of that I attribute to 3 things. First and foremost, the writing here is stellar, it's pinpoint sharp, and even with a movie that has a good bit of dialogue, you get these really well placed beats that structure. Which leads me to the next element in its success, the 2 leads, Constance and Cathy. I mean Constance Brenneman for the most part takes on the role of Mary Beth as if we were walking in her shoes. That carefully well mannered approach, keeping everything as much inside of her as it is boiling to the surface, her nice shifts when the arc allows her to show a little bit more, just attaches us to Mary Beth's journey that much more. In lesser hands could have gotten extremely sloppy or more so melodramatic and detached. Of course, a lot of that would also have been lost if not for her anchor in Cathy DeBuono, who plays Wanda, and owns it. Cathy is quirky, fun, and adventurous enough as Wanda that when shit gets real we are so invested in Wanda and so much want to just reach out and comfort and hug her in those moments. The chemistry between these 2 may be as strong as I have seen on a screen in a long time. They make this balancing act between them look like ballet or poetry and it is anything but in the scheme of the story. The actors around them, Monica Young, who plays a bit of foil at first but is so much a catalyst to what I was mentioning earlier about getting bit. She ends up really anchoring a major beat in the story that is so pivotal to keeping us going. Its so well managed by Monica because there is this finesse where she dances with a mixture of bravado and subtle femininity that keeps us from losing the important moment of this shift in the arc of our 2 main characters. Then there's Roberta Hanlen who becomes the next phase of the story as Davina Moonbeam. She just maestros a fun loving free spirit into the heartbeat of moving our 2 leads forward with grace, empathy, and all the while still being able to drop a little sass and sarcastic wit in there. The 3rd thing that made this movie work so well is the smart choice by the writer and director Jan Miller Corran to find ways to move us along while still letting the actors have their moments. There are some fun playful devices slipped in but the design is magic when there are these stillness moments because the choices Jan makes to press in, go wide, go to a two shot again makes us feel like we are in the shows of that actor, feeling it. All this coupled into some very seamless enough editing that even if the devices seem a little much or out of place it kind of momentums the tone and harnesses the overall aesthetic that permeates within this well told story.
WHY CHAMPION THIS MOVIE: Its quirky, inventive, and yet sentimental and delightful all in one movie. Instead of hitting every romantic comedy beat with jokes that could hit or miss and then falling down the romantic comedy/drama trope tunnel, this film nibbles with those tropes in order to playfully or strongly bite at you in such naturalistic spurts. I think this is the kind of Romcom-ish, fun adventure that will surprise a lot of people. The word cute came to mind a lot in writing this and I did my best to navigate around it and not use it but alas there is something cute about it. Yet as I recover from gagging saying what I just said ("cute"), there is something very strong about its presence too, and its need to be seen for anyone looking to support the LGBTQ+ community and movies. It doesn't slap you in the face with that awareness, it embraces you instead with witty banter, smart natural progressions, and great storytelling and acting. If you are a fan of Romcoms you just appreciate all that.
YOU CAN WATCH THE INTERVIEW ON GO INDIE NOW WE DID FOR OUR 3RD SEASON OF SPOTLIGHT WITH THE FILMMAKER JAN MILLER CORRAN, THE 2 LEADS IN CONSTANCE BRENNEMAN AND CATHY DEBUONO, AND 2 OF THE SUPPORTING CAST IN MONICA YOUNG AND ADAM HUSS RIGHT HERE:
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