For lovers of Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of The Heart there’s a movie magic moment where in this film but if you hate the song don’t let that put you off.
Stage Mother
A super camp finding yourself in mid life movie for lead character Maybelline Jacki Weaver (like the make up brand) a choir mistress from Texas in a dead marriage thwarted by prejudice because of her gay theatrical son Rickey who escaped the limitations of a small town Baptist upbringing to live his life as the star of the drag bar he owns with his partner Nathan played by Adrian Grenier (devil wears prada)
This is a heart warming coming of age story of love and forgiveness. It’s full of courage to be your own person and chutzpah to realise even in the face of the deepest pain and tragedy it’s never too late.
When Maybelline’s son Rickey passes away, she inherits his gay and drag bar, Pandora's Box, which is located in the Castro District of San Francisco, California a world away from her conservative life in Red Vine, Texas.
When she attends his funeral against the wishes of her husband Jeb Metcalf, and heads off defying him, think Shirley Valentine, he also must face the reality of the situation and their strained relationship, a side plot.
But it is the colour and humour of the cast of characters Maybelline meets in San Francisco, that carry this film and human story of predictive, regret and ultimately love. Rickeys friends and colleagues in the failing bar where his drug addiction had caused audiences to wain and ultimately finished him off on stage, become Maybelline’s new family and purpose as she reconnects with her son in death and gets to know him again through Pandoras Box and the people that perform there. She befriends a queer troubled performer Joan, intervening in his drug taking and reconnecting him with his mother, something she wished someone had done for her precious boy Rickey.
The music, the sets, the clever script and laugh out loud humour make this film a must watch. Think The Birdcage meets Kinky Boots meets American Beauty meets Behind the Candelabra. All films on my must watch at least once list. It tackles the difficult challenge of avant garde LGBTQ+ and conservative small town mentality in a beautiful open and illuminating way.
Hymn For Him is an original gospel song performed by Jacki Weaver in her own voice a heartfelt, posthumous duet, blending her live vocals with a recording of her late son, Rickey. This climatic performance, which is accompanied by a visual montage of Rickey's life, marks the final scene of the film, deeply moving, uplifting and closes the movie with lessons learned and in surety life does indeed go on.
Outstanding supporting performances from
Lucy Liu as single Mom to Rickey jr, Sienna and Jackie Beat the drag persona of actor screenwriter Kent Fuher as stage mother Dusty Muffin who quits the club in a stand off when Maybelline arrives but returns to run the show, the last important person in the team restored leaving her free to step aside with Nathan taking back ownership of the club at Maybelline’s insistence.
A tribute to finding family in unusual places, forgiveness and the ultimate power in love as a doing word.