Maudie

We really wanted to like this movie. It's a true story, starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke who are both excellent actors. And it's filmed in the stunning scenery of Nova Scotia. But it's just incredibly slow and really far too long. And not much happens. On the other hand, it is beautifully acted (Sally Hawkins is amazing in her portrayal of a deeply shy woman suffering crippling juvenile arthritis), and we did end up sticking it through to the end. If Art-house movies are your thing, you'll probably love it. If not, then you have been warned.

I believe what makes this film a delightful experience isn't so much the story but the brilliant performances by Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke. As the two main characters Maud & Everett these two actors become the characters they are portraying. Here is a simple story of two socially inept people that find one another and experience all the joy, anger, heartbreak and peace that goes with love. The setting is both beautiful and bleak - just like Maud & Everett! Anyone who is incapable of getting emotionally involved with these two and their story as it is being portrayed on screen has an emptiness in their heart.

"The whole of life, already framed, right there." Maud Lewis (Sally Hawkins) Maud Lewis was a pioneer of the Art Naïve school of folk painting flourishing all over, especially in Canada, and specifically here in Nova Scotia. The quote shows how natural her genius was looking out a window from her 10x12 foot home. The biopic Maudie thrives on Hawkins' superior acting talent that superficially shows her deformed leg, her debilitation from arthritis, and her emphysema doomsday from smoking. Yet she radiates joy and a keen eye for the simple beauty of life. As she tells her husband, Everette (Ethan Hawke), she doesn't need much. With no formal artistic training, Maud initially uses a finger to paint a tulip with vibrant colors. She barely looks back as she paints chickens, dogs, birds, and "things," all observed inside and outside the humble cottage on doors, windows, boards, and whatever. The pain most artists experience in order to express beauty comes for Maud not just from her physical handicaps but from her husband, a rude fishmonger and wood chopper without a lick of humor. He begrudgingly allows her to sell her paintings and pockets the proceeds. However, he loves her in his own crude way and provides the home, albeit no more than two rooms, that spawns the art. Cinematographer Guy Godfree captures the sweep of open nature that surrounds the town and the intimately colorful interior transformed by her art. John Hand's production design makes her cottage so meticulously authentic that you might wonder if he borrowed it from the Nova Scotia museum that now houses it. Beyond the pleasant bio of a charming painter, the love between the two is one of the best romances of the year. It could be because theirs is hardly conventional or because Hawkins and Hawke are super actors. Or both. Love abides, and as Everett says, "There's me. Them dogs, them chickens, then you."

Tolerably slow-paced story/script about a life worthy of the telling. While her performance resonated true, the leading-man appearance and over the top performance of Ethan Hawke did not, all to the point of being a distraction. An unknown/unfamiliar actor would have been a more welcome/fitting choice.