The movie is called Grandma and stars Lily Tomlin. That’s all you really need to know about this diverting 80 minutes of indie-style drama. It’s with praise and blame that I note writer/director Paul Weitz‘s casting of the iconic actress which in some ways lifts the action but in others draws attention to the overall lack of punch.
It opens as ageing counter culture poet Elle (Tomlin) is dumping younger girlfriend Olivia (Judy Greer) but we soon learn Elle is pushing Olivia away to stop her getting too close, rather than having fallen out of love. She doesn’t have much time to mope though as granddaughter Sage (Julia Garner) arrives with a bombshell – she’s pregnant and seeking cash for a termination. Elle then transports her to various places in a bid to raise the funds from people she knows – this becomes a journey through various phases of her life, and we find out about the choices this woman and artist has made over the years, for better of worse.
Of course being an unconventional movie OAP it isn’t long before Tomlin is challenging society, starting with a coffee shop scene where she puts a few noses out of joint. Weitz has wisely avoided the Hollywood tendency for going overboard on this, but he also sticks too closely to the indie film template. Grandma‘s hand-held camerawork, wistful guitar/violin soundtrack and cutaways of nature are all fairly standard for a production of this type. There’s some good dialogue: “Some people should not grow beards. Your face looks like an armpit,” Elle says to the baby’s disaffected father. It’s just a shame the accompanying narrative doesn’t impress in the same way.
Marcia Gay Harden and Sam Elliott raise the acting stakes in their exchanges with the protagonist, but overall it’s poor Julia Garner‘s task to try and hold her own against Tomlin. She’s fine, but her character’s story bizarrely is the least interesting and disappointingly developed in a rather flat way. I would have welcomed more scope for the actresses to spark off each other.
Grandma is perfectly watchable, vaguely poignant and even pleasant in places but it just isn’t kick up the ass it thinks it is. The running time is short, so it doesn’t outstay its welcome and you get a bit of an insight into Elle and her family. The movie closes with an extended shot of Tomlin walking off into the distance. You can almost feel the lens clinging onto her for grim death, like it doesn’t want to let her go. I know how it feels.
DVD Extras: Q & A with Lily Tomlin, Sam Elliott, Paul Weitz / Commentary with Tomlin, Elliott, Julia Garner and Weitz
Grandma is available on DVD from Monday 4th April.
