Telluride at Dartmouth Film: "Maudie"
Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke star in this inspiring true story of Canadian folk art painter Maud Lewis.
Stunted early on in childhood by the effects of acute arthritis and a repressed, poverty-stricken family, Maud Lewis somehow taught herself to become one of Canada’s most beloved folk artists. After only a few moments of screen time, Sally Hawkins has convinced us of Maud’s tenacity, eccentricity and singular humor. Ethan Hawke employs his trademark charm, as a gruff, inarticulate fish peddler with severe anger-management issues. Theirs is a curious, tender romance born of desperation, need and luck. Director Aisling Walsh tells the story with fitting simplicity, using minimal locations and characters and transforming the bleak landscapes of Nova Scotia as windows into Maud’s imaginative world, as she continues her ever-challenging process of self-discovery. (Canada, 2016, 115m)
