The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C
Let’s just get this out of the way: this movie isn’t for me. My knowledge mainly lies with horror, action and exploitation movies, so a British melodrama about a gay couple struggling with dementia isn’t exactly my cup of tea. But the combination of awards season and the pandemic means that only dramas are being released to theaters right now, so this is what I’m left with. However, I can recognize that this is pretty solid for what it is. If this sounds like your kind of thing, then you can probably add a full letter grade to my assessment. If you start getting drowsy at the mere idea of watching something like this, then steer clear.
Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci star as a couple making their way across England in an RV. On the surface, the trip is to transport Firth to a concert performance (he’s a pianist) that he has booked. In reality, the trip is because Tucci’s character has dementia and this is an opportunity to see his friends and family before he can no longer remember them. If that sounds a bit too uplifting, the film gets sadder at the end.
This is a performance-driven film and the performances are superb. I’m assuming that both Firth and Tucci will be nominated for a bunch of awards in the coming months and deservedly so (even if this kind of movie is designed to garner such nominations). Tucci, as the man afflicted with dementia, conveys both incredible sadness and odd confidence with ease, creating a character that’s easy, and depressing, to root for in the face of pending doom. Firth somehow manages to one-up Tucci with the melancholy, showing up that the person most affected by a disease may not be the person that actually has it. So the film is strong as a performance piece.
It isn’t particularly strong as a narrative, though. Keeping with an early theme for the year, Supernova is a road trip movie. Firth and Tucci travel the countryside to meet with some relatives and friends, leave, go see other friends and relatives, repeat. There are sad, heartfelt moments, sure, and they are anchored by superb performances. But the film never goes beyond sad goodbyes and the occasional moment showing the growth of the disease. I am being much kinder to this film than I was to Nomadland because there is at least a minimalistic plot, but this is a performance piece and not a story-driven narrative.
As an aside and because I’m writing out of things to say: I was the only person in the theater for this movie and that’s only the fourth time that’s ever happened (following Tusk, The Disappointments Room, and The Little Stranger). But it didn’t look like I was going to be the only person in the theater. A man and his young son (maybe seven or eight years old) walked into the theater, with sodas and a jumbo popcorn, and sat down a few rows behind me. I thought this was an interesting choice. So they sit through the trailers and then the film opens with a shot of the two men in bed together and the father and son immediately got up and left the theater. They literally didn’t make it through the opening shot of the film. Look, I’m all in favor of bringing your kids to see R-rated movies if you have properly taught them how to behave in public. My parents brought me to R-rated movies all the time. But there is no goddamn excuse in this day and age to bring your kid to a movie and have no clue what it is about. I chuckled when they left, but I really hope that dumbass didn’t get a refund.
Anyway, if you like sad melodramas, be my guest. This is a pretty good one with some truly stellar performances and it checks all of the required boxes for a nomination for Best Picture. For me, this is just a thing I saw because nothing else was playing.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_(2020_film)#/media/File:Supernova_poster.jpeg
