With: Emilia Jones, Scoot McNairy, Geena Davis, Nessa Dougherty, Cody Fern, Bella Murphy, Adam Lambert, Ryan Thurston, Maria Bakalova, Ben Attal, Isabella Peregrina, Roman Gonzalez, Trent Allen Davis, Cabe Thompson, Atim Udoffia, Becky Leia, Matt Standley
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Written by: Andrew Durham, based on a memoir by Alysia Abbott
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Directed by: Andrew Durham
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MPAA Rating: NR
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Running Time: 115
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Date: 06/15/2023
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Gay Windows
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Produced by Sofia Coppola and based on a memoir by Alysia Abbott, Andrew Durham's Fairyland is a miracle achievement, a vivid, transporting look at San Francisco in the 1970s and 1980s on a micro-budget. It tells the story of Abbott's writer father Steve (Scoot McNairy), who arrives in The City in the early 1970s with his young daughter (Nessa Dougherty) after the death of his wife. Steve immediately comes out as gay and tries to strike a balance between being a single parent and living the life of an artist and poet, meanwhile allowing his daughter to become "self-sufficient." In the 1980s, a terrible virus has begun to make its way across the world, striking particularly hard in San Francisco, and Steve, with his array of lovers, is not immune. Now Alysia is grown (and played by Emilia Jones of CODA), and has a tense relationship with her father, who may not have been there as much as she might have liked. But when he contracts the AIDS virus, she goes to his side.
The film's first half is almost ethereal, like a distant memory; some scenes, like an early Pride parade, are such an uncanny mix of stock footage and new footage that it looks like time travel. Things snap into focus for the second half, tackling the hard reality of things. It is, of course, difficult to watch movies about ruthless, wasting diseases, but Durham brings a delicate, almost angelic, touch to the material, sparing us the gruesome details and focusing on the swirling emotions of the situation. He coaxes great performances from his cast — Oscar-nominee Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) breaks the heart in just a couple of small scenes — but McNairy deserves Oscar consideration for his work, making a total transformation between the decades, and digging deep. (A scene shot in front of the Conservatory of Flowers is a powerhouse.) Geena Davis plays Steve's mother-in-law, disapproving of his lifestyle, and forever trying to coax him to let her raise Alysia.
Fairyland opened San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival on June 15, 2023, and will hopefully open theatrically soon.
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