Maudie

What a good film. And most impressive is that it is actually based on a true story (sorry, I haven't done my research before the film, so when the documentary bits came at the end, I was like No way, that was actually for real!). I am not sure it can really be called a "feel good" movie - life wasn't that easy for her. But it will certainly warm your heart with a big and powerful message that we don't really need much to be happy.

Sally Hawkins was absolutely great. With that shy but ready smile and wondering eyes. Although I felt kind of sorry for the way they portrayed her husband. Not sure if he was as brute in real life as they made him. Not that I know, of course, but it felt too much (and he looked smiley enough in the documentary bits). Also, I'd say the editing was not as smooth as it could have been so felt rather amateurish overall, but maybe that was intentional.

"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."

It's a long time since I've seen a film as affecting as this (principally because it isn't emotionally manipulative, which I always resent). Instead it just tells a simple tale of simple folk living in simple times, between whom love eventually blossoms against the odds. It's also a sobering reminder of how hard times were in the early 20th century in rural communities, where gossip and malice were endemic, people worked their fingers to the bone and there was no room for sentimentality. That very unsentimental ethos permeates the film, though of course in many cases it tips over into cruelty, and the cruelty Maudie suffers is at times unbearable. Yet for those tempted to walk out, stick with it because her life improves and she evens starts to smile a bit, once the art therapy kicks in. Take a box of Kleenex, expect to feel humbled (and never to complain again about your affluent neuroses). Beyond that, both leads (Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke) are great, and the photography of Newfoundland & Nova Scotia is beautiful, capturing the seascapes and landscapes in the brilliant light.

For me, this is the reason I go to the movies. Always in the expectation that when I walk out of the theater I simply will not be touching the ground. This does not happen frequently, but with "Maudie" the magic occurred. An amazing story eloquently told. Sally Hawkins is superb, touching and profoundly human. Ethan Hawke is at his best. There is a believable chemistry between these battered beings. When they do take flight, they soar over this crude grandiose landscape so beautifully captured on film.

It's early, but the award community have a sure bet in this unforgettable gem.

Folk Art is art that is not defined by your traditional academic notions of what art should be, whether technical or aesthetic. Folk is an old word, from old high German, basically meaning people in general.

"Maudie" is a movie about folks, especially one very important central figure who happens to be a folk artist. Maud Lewis is her name, and it's very likely she never classified her art by any term whatsoever during her life, much less folk art. Her art is just something she did.

"Maudie" is a sweet little biopic movie that at times is a bit disturbing. The disturbing aspects are subtle. The creators/directors gloss over some of the finer points of her life, with some alterations of the truth. However, the important questions are asked, literally, during the movie. It's up to the viewer to see these aspects, or not, and take them for what they are. Your reactions or discernment thereof may depend on prior knowledge or research of the subject.

What is clear from almost the outset the movie, is that Maud and her husband led a difficult life - not quite but almost abject poverty. Yet Maud filled her life with beauty through her art. Flickers of relative fame touched her life briefly, but it was not until well after her death in 1970 that full appreciation was recognized, not that she really cared about these things.

"Maudie" is a small movie with big performances by the mains, especially Sally Hawkins. In my opinion, her performance as Maud is the best this year so far, but I can guarantee right now that you will hear her name come Oscar time next year. Ethan Hawke is also exceptional as her husband Everett, although the role itself is a bit more static. The supporting cast - mostly unknowns - does well in more cardboard cut- out roles, but Matchett, a Canadian actress who you might recognize from some American TV roles does a nice job as one of her earliest patrons.

Will you like this movie? I don't know, but I loved it. It is what it is, not an action movie, but a small art-house drama/biopic of a very interesting and amazing person who lived most of her life in obscurity. This movie affected me not just during the viewing, with tears streaming slowly down my face, but well after. The tears that came were not only sad but also from joy at her creations, but most of all they stemmed from my belief that beauty and sweetness deserves beauty and sweetness and, well, Maud had very little of that in her life.

Many biopics have been made of famous people that rose out of obscurity or extremely challenging situations or disabilities to achieve greatness and renown. What really interested and touched me about Maud's story is there was no rise.

(Interesting side note: Maud sold her paintings during her life for a few coins to a few dollars at most. Now her paintings are selling for six figures)