Director Séamus Rea's honest and loving drama "Sleeping Beauty of East Finchley", filmed during Various Voices London 2009 festival of gay and lesbian choirs, tells a sweet and honest story about finding friendship, community and love.
Joan (Josie Walker) lives a most unremarkable life. She has a dull job. She seems to have few if any friends and no interests. Her only pleasure is singing. But she doesn't realize what an amazing voice she has and only sings at home to her favorites songs. But Joan is loyal and she dutifully lives with and takes care of her elderly Mother (Mary Duddy). Two people could not have more different personalities than Joan and her Mum. While Joan is dower, her mother is playful. While Joan is a skeptic, her mother is an eternal optimist. Joan is just a bit up tight and her Mum is knowingly precocious. The only two people who seem to interrupt their orderly lives are Mickey (Christopher Dunne) their local eucharistic minster and Pat (Ruth James) the at home nurse
Joan has a beautiful singing voice which only her mother has heard, until Pat stumbles on her singing in the kitchen. Amazed by Joan's voice, Pat asks Joan to check out her women's choir called the Friends of Dusty. After a few false starts and an interlude with the church choir, Joan's solitary life comes to an end-- she finds her voice, friends and community with the Friends of Dusty. But an internal conflict between her Catholic faith and new found friends arise when the LBGT festival announcement arrives at the rehearsal studio.
The connection between Pat and Joan moves from consoling, to confusing, to uncertain, but always deep and heartfelt as they each gingerly navigate the uncertainty of a new relationship. Walker's and James's performances are sometimes awkward and uneven… just like adolescence, but always charming. And Duddy's delivered a knowingly precocious performance as the mother who knows a bit more than she says. As the credit roll by "Sleeping Beauty of East Finchley" feels like an awkward and charming film, in which Mum gets the last word and leaves a smile on everyone's face.
"Sleeping Beauty of East Finchley" plays at the 35th Annual San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival (http://www.frameline/org/festival) on Thursday, June 16, 10:00PM Castro Theatre in San Francisco and Monday, June 20, 7:00 PMRialto Cinemas™ Elmwood in Berkeley. Click here to buy tickets.
Cast: Josie Walker (Joan), Mary Duddy (Mum), Ruth James (Pat), Christopher Dunne (Mickey), full cast and crew.
Written and directed by Séamus Rea. Production company: Cheek2Cheek Productions. Running time: 50 minutes; genre: Romantic Drama.
Comments