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FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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Finn's Girl Wolfe
Video Directors:
Screenplay:
Starring:
Unrated, 88 minutes |
Teach
Your
To many filmgoers, one of the most beloved motion picture genres is the familiar and heartwarming story of a single, widowed parent struggling to raise a child all alone. Most are usually variations on the same theme. Here's one I haven't seen before; the stressed-out parent is a lesbian and she runs an abortion clinic. |
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bet that just got your attention. Finn's
Girl is an interesting new Canadian film co-directed by Dominique
Cardona and Laurie Colbert, with a script by Colbert. Brooke Johnson stars
as Dr. Finn Jeffries. Finn is an expert in reproductive technologies but,
for now, she has chosen to continue running the clinic founded by her late
partner, Nancy, a famed activist. She has become used to the almost-daily
death threats and the protesters outside the clinic. Zelly (Maya Ritter)
is her precocious and rebellious eleven-year old daughter. Zelly is fond
of reminding Finn that she isn't her "real mother." Between parenting, her
research, the clinic, and harassing fanatics, the poor woman has her hands
full. The icing on the cake is when someone takes a shot at her one day
when she's leaving the clinic. |
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 Adding
a little more familial tension is Paul (Richard Clarkin), Zelly's birth-father.
He wants Zelly to stay with him until the trouble at the clinic boils
over. "I hate it when you treat me like a sperm donor," he tells Finn. She
and Paul have additional issues over a drug he is testing at the hospital
where they both conduct research. Finn's fertility studies provide the modus
operandi for an odd twist in the third act. Lastly, there are the two cops,
a lesbian of color named Diana and a French-Canadian ladies' man named Xavier
(Yanna McIntosh and Gilles Lemaire) assigned to guard Dr. Finn. Besides
providing police protection, Diana eventually becomes a big sister to Zelly
and confidant to her mom. |
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 The
film isn't out to make a political statement and there are no deliberate
audience manipulations at play. Whatever one's personal feelings are towards
abortion, Finn's Girl is an
often frightening story about a driven woman who believes she is doing the
right thing and is just starting to understand the impact that her choices
are having on her daughter's well being. Zelly hears threatening phone calls
and her best friend's moralistic mother doesn't want her son to play with
her. Danger lurks in the third act but those looking for a flashy Single
White Female style ending will be disappointed. Finn's
Girl is a remarkable character study of a family dealing
with more than their share of the usual life traumas and these are examined
without resorting to melodrama or cliche. Humor is nicely used to balance
the often bleak atmosphere. Zelly gets the best line of the film when she
walks up to the abortion protesters and says "School's out. Shouldn't you
be home with your kids?" During a stake-out, Xavier asks Diana what lesbians
do in bed and she replies, "We lie there and wait for a French guy like
you to show up." |
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Finn's Girl leaves a lot of loose ends and questions unanswered (perhaps too many) but it offers a controversial background story and a touching look at a mother-daughter relationship that survives being pushed to its limits. Highly recommended.
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 CLICK THE ABOVE BANNER TO PURCHASE THIS WOLFE VIDEO TITLE |
The
heart of the movie is the unconventional relationship between mother and
daughter that is nothing like you've ever seen on The Donna Reed Show.
Finn loves her daughter but is the first to admit that it was Nancy
who knew how to really be a parent. Zelly likes to steal her mother's
pot and smoke it with her friends. The girl's nanny quits, allowing for
Zelly to be alone and to get in trouble between the time she gets out
of school and Finn gets home from work. One of her friends says "I wish
my mom was a lesbian. I could stay out late like you." But Zelly's
going through a rocky period with Finn. She misses her birth mom and dislikes
Finn's girlfriend, Jamie, a fellow doctor at the clinic. Zelly has no
problem expressing herself when Finn tries to have a heart-to-heart. "It's
illegal to leave an 11 year old all alone at night" is her response to
a scolding. When Finn looks at Nancy's picture and says "I miss you so
much," Zelly asks "Is that why you fuck Jamie?"
Most
memorable is Brooke Johnson's complex Dr. Finn, a fertility specialist
who paradoxically performs abortions. She rides a motorcycle, wears a
leather jacket, and keeps her salt and pepper hair cropped short. The
look perfectly fits her character; a lovely woman aged by tragedy. Her
sensuality isn't forgotten; look for a steamy rendezvous with Jamie and
for a deeper bond to grow between Finn and Diana. (Inter-racial romances
are becoming more common in queer films but they're still refreshing to
see.) Maya Ritter is also exceptional as Zelly; she seems wise beyond
her years and is a believable brat without being the usual obnoxious Hollywood
child actress. In fact, the entire cast delivers the goods.