Tucked

I am so pleased I Googled Derren Nesbitt and discovered this smashing film. How well I remember him from the 60s onwards, with those piercing blue eyes and ability to chill the soul!

He is simply excellent in this film & makes a very touching partner to Jordan Stephens, who balances the act very well.

I wish it had received a wider release - it deserves to have done.

Then the second half becomes a sentimental mess with Jackie finding a path back to his estranged daughter. This is where the story becomes predictable.

Otherwise the relationship between the characters 'Jackie' & 'Faith' keep the plot going at an entertaining pace. There are no 'heavy social issues' tossed upon you - the viewer.

It's just a story of an elderly man dealing with his career & health and its effect upon family and new found friend.

There is a good idea behind the film and generally the lead 2 were likeable however it did have the feel of a TV movie in my opinion and the rest of the cast didn't seem to be on the same level. There were moments I was really buying into it but others where it was misfiring. With a few changes from the writers and an increased running time could certainly have been better then ending especially seemed rushed which is suprising given its short lengths and the powerful scenes that could potentially have been had at the weeding leading up to it and following. Still not a bad film but not enough to stand out for me.

Tucked (2018) is an English movie written and directed by Jamie Patterson.

The film stars Derren Nesbitt as Jackie, a straight man who performs as a woman at a nightclub. He's not just Jackie, as he tells us. He's "The one and only Jackie."

Within the first few minutes of the movie, we learn that Jackie has a particularly aggressive form of cancer. His physician tells him to ease back a little, but naturally that's exactly what Jackie doesn't want to do.

Enter Jordan Stephens as Faith, a new performing artist at the club. We're never sure if Faith is straight or gay, and that's the way he wants it. He's very talented, and he certainly could be successful, especially after Jackie takes him under his wing.

There's a subplot about Jackie's estranged daughter, which is predictable, but works well enough. Actually, the entire film is fairly predictable. We know the beginning and we know the end.

What makes the film work is what happens along the way. It helps that the acting is truly outstanding. We learn to care about both Jackie and Faith and to care about exactly what will happen next.

We saw this movie at Rochester's great Little Theatre, as part of the outstanding Image Out, the Rochester LGBT Film Festival. It will work well on the small screen.

This movie has too few IMDb ratings to be meaningful, and I believe that I'm the first IMDb reviewer. So . . . you'll have to take my word for it that Tucked is worth seeing. Or, as Faith says, "Everyone needs a little faith."

I was lucky enough to catch this film at the BFI Flare LGBTQI+ film festival and despite being intrigued by the synopsis, I wasn't fully prepared for how moving a film I was in for. This is a mesmerising, heartwarming & wry tale of friendship, family, gender fluidity, life choices and much more - all wrapped up in a superbly shot and exquisitely balanced story. The local setting and framing of the reality, mundanity and beauty of the leads' existence really shines in the directing and camerawork with some of the shots literally taking my breath away on the cinema screen. One closeup of a hairy knee through fishnets actually bought me to tears. The witty and nuanced script is superb and lifted even higher by Nesbitt on blistering form as the ageing performer, with Jordan Stephens holding his own in the emotional scenes as his young ward. The whole cast really sinks its teeth into the tale and those moments are great, but at its core, this is a vehicle for Nesbitt to show why he should have had many more lead roles in his brilliant career and thanks to the director, Jamie Patterson, he finally gets that moment and runs with it. All in all this is a beautiful, timely, unique masterpiece which I can only hope gets the wide audience it deserves. Highly recommended!