Intro

An old alternative birthday song has the line, “One year older and wiser, too.” While it’s true that each year we age we (hopefully) gain wisdom, that wisdom is also only earned by each year or stage of life offering unique challenges. Writer/director Josh Margolin’s new film, Thelma, explores some of these challenges in charming, hilarious, and heartbreaking ways.

Synopsis

Thelma stars Oscar nominated June Squibb (Nebraska) as Thelma: a 93 years young grandmother who is dealing with the trials that many her age go through. These range from trying to understand how to use a computer to being victimized by a grandparent phone call scam. She is also, along with her directionless grandson (Fred Hechinger, Eighth Grade), condescendingly patronized by her daughter (Parker Posey, Best in Show) and husband (Clark Gregg, The Avengers).

The scam incident prompts renewed attempts to get Thelma to go and live in an assisted living facility. This outrages Thelma and gives her the idea of getting the money back herself. After co-opting an old friend, Ben (Richard Roundtree, Shaft), to help her, hijinks and heartbreak ensue. They then journey across town to with the hope of confronting the perpetrators.

Review

It really remarkable how Margolin and Squibb are able to explore the seeming impossibility of dealing with old age. They do this while keeping the audience laughing and having a good time. Squibb does most of the work here. She is just ridiculously charismatic and charming and kept my eyes glued to the screen. The other performances are fantastic as well, particularly Clark Gregg as the bumbling, tech-obsessed dad (I might or might not have related to this character a little too much).

There is an interesting parallel between the way that Posey’s character treats both her mother and son like they are incapable of doing anything on their own. Her son is clearly dealing with depression, seemingly brought on by the learned helplessness that some of his generation suffer from. I think an implicit question that the film is asking is whether or not treating others as helpless actually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Helicopter parenting” can happen in either generational direction.

Nick Chuba’s score brilliantly juxtaposes both hilarious and hard situations our protagonist finds herself in with 60’s spy film flavor. It feels like the score to Austin Powers, but much more subtle. This approach lets the audience feel Squibb’s determination and that her journey is more or less a geriatric CIA mission. This vibe was further compounded by casting of Richard Roundtree (the original Shaft) as her accomplice.

The Bottom Line

Thelma is a delightfully charming, hilarious, and heartbreaking film about aging. It doesn’t flinch at examining the really hard things, but it also does it in a masterful way.

4.5

Check out our other reviews here.