Maudie

"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."

Although shot in Canada, and although it is about a Canadian, I don't like affixing the term Canadiana to it. It is a Universal movie about the indomitable spirit that some people possess even when faced with horrendous turns of fate. Sally Hawkins is incredibly good as Maud and Ethan Hawke does a superb job of playing Everett Lewis. Hawkins has the accents , the movements, the wry smile and the light that just won't stop shining. Hawke's performance is very nuanced: his character was an emotional cripple and he was violent, but we also know how much he loved and admired his wife. It was a time when dirt poor men asked for nothing, did whatever they must to survive and didn't allow expression of feelings in their lives. Many reviewers have called him "vile", but he could have been a miner, for example, anywhere in the world as easily as a fish seller in Nova Scotia in 1930. I think Ethan Hawke did an amazing job of capturing that man. It has great cinematography, excellent score and a minimalist script that allows, through actual superb acting, to get to know a pair of characters in a movie like never before. Don't miss this one!!

There is quote by Kurt Vonnegut that comes to mind when I think of Maudie, the latest film based on the real life and times of an artist. "Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something." That may sound like a backhanded compliment but if Maud Lewis was portrayed accurately in the film, I doubt she'll mind. To her painting wasn't a source of ego or pride. It was something she just did - to make herself happy - and if it made others happy all the better.

The film picks up with Maudie, played with understated sensitivity by Sally Hawkins, as she struggles and fails to earn the respect of her family. Despite her severe arthritis, Maudie answers an advert for a live-in maid and runs away. She moves in with and eventually marries the crotchety Everett Lewis (Hawke), a fishmonger who manages to put on a grim smile but once over the film's 40+ year time span. After a time living in Everett's dimly lit squalor, Maudie relights her passion for painting using abandoned cork board and the walls of her new home to paint continuously.

The true-life Maudie was eventually considered Canada's most popular and prolific folk artist; though one could hardly tell given the solitude that follows Maudie throughout her life. In the film, she remains isolated, largely due to her debilitating arthritis and painful shyness around strangers. There's one awkward scene early on where Maud struggles to shuffle out of a doorway and stick her head out long enough to compliment a woman's shoes. In that moment we realize her deep desire to be both accepted and left alone.

The film aptly compliment's the artist's own frailties and unconventionality with a strikingly brittle and unconventional love story. Maud's warmth towards Everett is sincere and unconditional. She sees in him, a beautiful person - an outcast like her who has been made wild by the cruelties of life but nevertheless deserves her love. As open as Maudie is to the inner-beauties of a warm sunset, Everett remains as cold and brutal as a winter storm. Yet every time he "puts a foot down," he wordlessly capitulates. He grumbles and erupts in objectively despicable behavior but Maud always seems to convince him that he's capable of love and being loved.

The film continues down this path of bittersweet co-dependence and as the relationship develops, we see the results of Maud's patience and virtue. Thanks to the remarkably assured cinematography of Guy Godfree, the film crackles with natural beauty and warmth of a cozy hearth. There are some truly breathtaking natural vistas on display here, which despite their expanse manage to feel intimate and idyllic.

As a film Maudie is certainly within the ranks of Mr. Turner (2014), My Left Foot (1989) and Lust for Life (1956). Much like those films, Maudie centers on the life of a tortured artist whose personal story tells something truly meaningful about the human condition. It also has a truly award-worthy performance by Sally Hawkins who is at this point in a class of her own.

I do NOT understand how it is possible that Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke went completely unnoticed by the Academy. It truly boggles my mind. All of the other reviews pretty much summed up my feelings for this film and the performances. I'm left speechless that NO NOMINATIONS WERE GIVEN!! How in the world did such incredible acting performances get unrecognized? Sally Hawkins was simply superb. Ethan Hawke was amazing. Maybe his best performance yet. This movie is a gem. Definite must-see. And you too, will be scratching your head as to WHY these amazing actors didn't get even the slightest nod. Wow.

When you are compelled to write a review, and you realise this is your first ever review of a film, you then understand the impact that a true classic has.

Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, well done! If you want to sit down to a less than fast, but utterly embracing film about life's journey, and how individuals are valued, how they react to outside pressures and put their whole world at risk, then this is the film for you .

Simply.. Brilliant.