Uncle Frank (2020) Review

So this weekend the London Sundance Film Festival is happening online and I am going to watch three of the films online over the next few days and the first one which I have just finished watching is called Uncle Frank and here is my review for it. The premise of the film is in the 1970's where a man and his 18 year old niece have to travel home where they are joined by the mans secret gay lover. 

Main Character

Paul Bettany of Vision fame in The Marvel Cinematic Universe plays Uncle Frank here and I thought he was superb here. He gives a truly memorable performance and it is really emotional, the film focuses on how living this secret life has affected him and how even though he is intelligent it doesn't change the fact that he is scared about living his life. He is very charismatic and charming and just leads the screen very well here. 

Supporting Characters

Sophia Lillis is in this film as his niece and this girl is having a great 2020 in terms of her star growing. I loved watching her on I am Not Okay With This and she is great here as well. She does kind of feel like a background character towards the end of the film but she does a great job in her role and I thought her and Bettany had really good chemistry here. Peter Macdissi plays his gay lover here and I thought he was a fun addition here, he is very different to everybody else here, he is more vibrant and over the top but I just liked him here and thought he was a very fun part of the film. The rest of the supporting cast also do a really good job in there smaller roles and add something to the film. 

Story

The story deals with many important subjects and themes, it is a film about acceptance and understanding people which is well done. It deals with the characters and there personalities well making the impactful moments hit in a larger way then I expected. Though this film also does fall for some forced emotional story elements, there is one in particular that felt wasted and didn't quite work and felt a little bit forced and like it had an agenda. 

Script

The script here has some good dialogue, it has the drama and emotion and actually some pretty funny moments which helped the flow of the film. But as I mentioned there are some forced moments that pretty much comes by weaker writing, that distrupts the flow of the film at times. 

Style

The style of the film does a good job of making the audience feel the way that you are supposed to. You will be upset when you are supposed to, happy when you are supposed to and laugh when you are supposed to. But this film does have some pacing issues, especially when the road trip aspects of the film take place and this film clocks in at 90 minutes which made it feel a little short for me as I thought there as maybe a bit more story to tell. 

Overall

Overall, I liked this movie. It tells some important messages and with good acting makes it worthy, I would say this is a film for film fans I think most casuals won't be a fan but if you are interested in good stories in film then this might be worth a watch. 

Rating - 7/10