vernon film society
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INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS
Director: Cherie Nowlan
Cast: Brenda Blethyn, Khan Chittenden, Emma Booth, Richard Wilson, Frankie J. Holden
Runtime: 109 minutes
Country: Australia
Language: English
Rating: 18A (Sexually suggestive scenes)
Reviews: www.metacritic.com/film/titles/introducingthedwights
Cherie Nowland’s INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS, which had its premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival – is a heartwarming and deeply funny coming-of-age story. Or, rather, it would be a coming-of-age story if only the mother in this particular tale would let her son grow up!
The film stars the luminescent Brenda Blethyn (ON A CLEAR DAY, PRIDE & PREJUDICE) as Jean Dwight, the overwhelming matriarch of a family with two adult sons. As a young woman, she had been a rising star in England. Now, however, her acting career is stalled and she finds herself living in Australia and recently divorced from John (television actor Frankie J. Holden), a country singer who had but a single hit during his long, mediocre career.
Jean works in a cafeteria, but her feisty spirit has not faded; luckily, she has an outlet in the form of intermittent gigs as a stand-up comedienne – where she has the chance to spew – with less-than-fabulous comic timing – venomous, Phyllis Diller-esque laments about the many things in her life that have made her miserable. Meanwhile, her two grown sons still live at home. Tim (newcomer Khan Chittenden) is twenty years old, and spends his days caring for his brother Mark (Richard Wilson), who was brain-damaged at birth but who can nonetheless spar verbally with the best of them. Tim, however, is a shy man of few words. When he meets roommates Jill (Emma Booth) and Kelly (Katie Wall), and is soon being flirted with by Jill, obstacles begin to mount. Tim is not only shy, he is a virgin. And then there is his mother…. INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS has all the right comedic elements, but it is also a drama imbued with touching and universal themes: loss, love, suffering, survival and perseverance.
Blethyn is divine as always and the rest of the ensemble works seamlessly to create this quirky world in which growing up may not be easy to do, but where it can at least be a fun – if bumpy – journey.
"Among the many strengths of the sweetly touching Introducing the Dwights, a small gem from Australia unearthed at the Sundance Film Festival, is that Jean never becomes Godzilla." - Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
"The movie belongs to Blethyn, who takes a difficult, easily misunderstood role and gracefully cracks it open to reveal what's inside." - Carina Chocano , Los Angeles Times
