The 52: Uncle Frank

From June 2023 to June 2024 I'll be watching a lgbtqia+ film each week and coming back here with my thoughts, feelings and plenty of hopes we aren't met with the "kill your gays" trope. I call this The 52.

 TW: suicide

Alrighty-o, why the heck is this rated R?

Image credit: Wikipedia

Yes, I’m serious, no, I’m not kidding, this film (which has far less profanity than many straight films I’ve watched *ahem, ahem* Bridget Jones Diary 1, 2 and 3) has been given the highest film rating possible for no actual reason. Sure, a man describes a blow job being like poetry, but it wasn’t profane- just inept. I tried looking into the justification for this rating a few days after watching and I couldn’t find any real indicator- someone smokes weed? There are a few curses? Funnily enough, I had captions up while I watched this and “gay” was bleeped out, but “faggot” wasn’t. Nice one, Amazon, you really got us good.

Seldom do I watch a film and feel time slip by. As an adult I can rarely watch a film without doing something with my hands, but I also take my fair share of breaks (I think I’m onto the 4th session of watching my current film, just because I need to get up and do something else a lot). Uncle Frank moved past me seamlessly, a delicate thing with sharp edges that navigated itself… quite beautifully.

Not that it’s a beautiful story, no, this is a film about hiding your truth and finding ways to survive, of living in a world where being yourself could put you in prison or get you killed, of a man whose fear of his childhood home and all its ties haunts him, but it’s also about… being in love, loving the time you are in, the moment, seeing the truth of someone and finding your place. Of seeing people you know in new lights and seeing yourself not as you were, but as you are.

It’s hard, with films that are not necessarily… pleasant. I didn’t love Uncle Frank, I couldn’t look back and say I’d watch it every week, I don’t think that would be possible for me, but I genuinely appreciated it, appreciated the story it told and the way it told it, the way it cared for its characters. We see these people at their best and at their worst, we have this beautiful landscape of Beth learning that she doesn’t have to be who her family choose her to be because she had a predecessor, Frank, who didn’t accept the path laid out for him and, in making his own, made it easier for anyone who should follow. We see Frank, a recovering alcoholic, returning to drink to cope with the need to return to his childhood home, see the way it affects him and his relationship, and we see Wally, Frank’s partner, who loves so much and wants so much and doesn’t have a perception of the fact what he wants and what he himself is willing to give don’t necessarily match up.

(A sidenote here that Wally is an angelic human and I love him and he is a comedic genius and I love him. Thank you.)

Uncle Frank is not a perfect film, nor is it an easy one. But my goodness, it is worth experiencing. I’m very glad I got to watch it.

Like things shorter? Follow me on Letterboxd and see my review.