‘Any Day Now’ Movie Review

Ever so often, a truly important movie comes alone, a movie that could conceivably have the power to change a person’s heart. I believe that Any Day Now, the new film by Travis Fine, is one of those rare films.

Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt play Rudy and Paul, two gay men who take in Marco (Issac Leyva), a young man with Down’s Syndrome, after he is abandoned by his drug-addicted mother. Although Rudy and Paul couldn’t be more different (Rudy is a drag performer while Paul is a closeted lawyer), loving and caring for Marco brings them together and forms a family.

Unfortunately that family is ripped apart by a justice system that, while still all-too-often unfair in 2012, was positively cruel in 1979; Rudy and Paul take on the fight of their lives to save Marco, the boy who no one else but them seems to want. And while I won’t give away the ending of the movie, all I will say is that I was not the only person who left the theatre in tears.

What makes this film so powerful are the performances of Cumming, Dillahunt and newcomer Levya. While the script may not be perfect, leaning a little too far into sentimentality, the actors are what saves the movie from ever getting lost in those moments of pure pathos. In particular, Cumming’s Rudy is a masterful portrayal of a man who is just a bit too much for everyone else, but an absolutely perfect fit with Paul and Marco.

While this movie will be seen by some as a vehicle of the left-wing, I think that at its core, there is a message that transcends the labels of liberal or conservative. This is a story about a human being making a connection and finding a home with two other human beings. The labels put on them are put there by everyone else. All they want to do is be a family.

But we still live in a society where certain people want to define what family is for everyone else. And if anyone who believes in that homogenized, narrow view of family sees this movie and understands, even for a second, how damaging that idea is their fellow human beings, then Travis Fine has done the world a great service.

For anyone living in the Los Angeles area, you can see the film at the Sundance Sunset Cinema in West Hollywood, Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, Laemmle’s Town Center 5 in Encino, Laemmle’s Monica 4-plex in Santa Monica and the Regal University Town Center in Irvine.

If you would like to speak directly to Travis Fine, there will be Q&A sessions on Friday, December 14th at the Sundance Sunset Cinema, immediately following the 7:00PM show, or Saturday, December 15th at the Playhouse 7 following 7:10 show, or Sunday at the Town Center 5, following 1:40 show and at the Monica 4 following 4:20 show.

Any Day Now opens in limited release on Friday, December 14th.