Is a curious little ensemble piece called "A Very Serious Person". The cover of the DVD declares that you'll experience the talents of Charles Busch "as you've never seen him." And I thought, duh, I've never even heard of the guy before!--and then I did a little online research. Which really didn't help to establish him in my mind. He's written a couple of screen plays, acted in a couple of movies, did a guest spot on "Frazier", and played Nat in 16 episodes of "Oz," but I don't get HBO and prisons scare me.
In this flick he plays a gay Danish nurse who enters into the world of a dying, eccentric matriarch and her gender fem leaning 14 year old grandson. The old lady (Polly Bergen) leaves her penthouse apartment in NYC for a final summer with her orphaned gay-spirited grandson somewhere in a family home in suburbia -- the details are not spelled out. Enter the aloof gay nurse, a crumudgeonly house keeper, and a folksy local beautician and her campy male assistant...shake well, let stand for 95 minutes and you've got this movie. In the process of the film you'll experience some laughs, some fights, a seizer or two, a little sex, a swimming lesson, and, of course, a death.
As a movie, it felt like a story better adapted to the stage, but I don't have any evidence to suggest that it ever was. 1.5 stars for heart...a little one, but a heart none-the-less.
The real find on the DVD is the short "Personal Assistant" also written and directed by Herr Busch for Showtime and starring Kathy Lee Gifford! It was truly a stitch. I guess it's better that little gems like these end up as a bonus on some DVD....
No comments:
Post a Comment