Arts
THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2020 B3
‘Uncle Frank’ is one of the year’s best Sublime acting highlights this well-sculpted character study
‘Uncle Frank’ Starring: Paul Bettany, Sophia Lillis, Peter Macdissi, Steve Zahn, Judy Greer, Margo Martindale, Stephen Root, Lois Smith, Jame McNeill and Burgess Jenkins Rating: R, for profanity, sexual candor and drug use
BY DERRICK BANG Enterprise film critic I haven’t been this nervous since Anne Hathaway reached for the microphone, in 2008’s “Rachel Getting Married.” Writer/director Alan Ball’s “Uncle Frank” — an Amazon Prime original — is a deeply personal and sensitively handled character study, brought to life by an excellent ensemble cast headed by Paul Bettany, Sophia Lillis and Peter Macdissi. Ball deftly walks the razor’s edge that often separates comedy from tragedy, delicately developing circumstances that set up a thirdact revelation/confrontation that raises our anxiety to the screaming level. We know an emotional train wreck is coming. A lengthy prologue — set in 1969, in tiny Creekville, S.C., — introduces the Bledsoe clan during a rowdy birthday party for elderly patriarch Daddy Mac (Stephen Root). Three generations are present: Daddy Mac, his wife Mammaw (Margo Martindale) and Aunt Butch (Lois Smith); adult children Frank (Bettany), Neva (Jane McNeill) and Mike (Steve Zahn); the latter two’s respective spouses, Beau (Burgess Jenkins) and Kitty (Judy Greer); and a rambunctious passel of grandkids. Fourteen-year-old Beth (Lillis) stands out as a quiet observer, keenly attuned to the moods of others. Alas, she isn’t quick enough to prevent an irate Daddy Mac from explosively chewing out the younger kids: an eyebrow-raising moment that reveals a truly nasty temper. We also don’t notice Frank right away; like Beth, he seems somehow removed from the noisy celebration. The exchange of gifts reveals a guarded dynamic between Frank and his unpleasant father. We assume it’s the former’s outsider status; unlike everybody else in the room, Frank long ago left Creekville for the Big Apple, where he has become a revered literature professor at New York University.
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is quite funny; Wally’s shrewd observations are always dead-on, and his bluntness — never unkind — invariably softens a tense moment. Wally also radiates devoted love: Frank is his entire world, and there’s no question that Frank needs him equally. The supporting cast is a wellestablished collection of scenestealers. Martindale has cornered the market on no-nonsense matriarchs, and her Southernfried sensibilities here are to die for. Zahn makes excellent use of his slow-burn double-takes; we sense that Mike is always one or two pages behind, in life’s complex script. Greer’s Kitty is sweet but slightly ditzy; Smith’s austere Aunt Butch seems to date back to the Civil War. I wish Ball had spent more time with McNeill’s Neva; she proves to be an important character, and deserves more exposure, early on. Cole Doman is exquisitely shaded as Frank’s teenage self, during flashback sequences. Darcy C. Scanlin’s production design feels completely authentic, from the comfortably disheveled appearance of the Bledsoe family home, to the scholarly NYU atmosphere and early 1970s vibe of post-Stonewall New York. Nathan Barr’s quietly poignant score is augmented by a wealth of period pop tunes that further establish the setting: from The Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing” and Bobby Sykes’ “Feet Get Me Out of Here,” to Paul Frederick’s “Cool Blue” and Apollo 100’s switched-on take on Bach’s “Joy.” Ball builds his film to a powerful conclusion, and I’ll warrant there won’t be a dry eye in the house. This is one for the ages. — Read more of Derrick Bang’s film criticism at http://derrickbang.blogspot.com. Comment on this review at www. davisenterprise.com.
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Although she has adored him her entire life, Beth (Sophia Lillis) begins to realize that there’s a lot more to her Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) than he reveals to most people. Frank escaped the vicious cycle of high school pregnancies that trap Creekville 16-year-olds into a lifetime of drudge jobs: a fate he hopes Beth also can avoid. He’s her favorite adult: the only one who treats her like a person, and not a child, listening attentively to her every word. But she fears her limited options, given family circumstances. Don’t settle for who people expect you to become, he advises; become who you want to be. That sentiment caps an achingly sweet and poignant chat on the porch, an entire world removed from the noisy clan on the other side of the wall: staged by Ball with carefully nuanced sensitivity, and delivered with touching persuasiveness by Bettany and Lillis. This film is bookended by an older Beth’s off-camera narration, much in the manner of the adult Scout, in 1962’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” (A bit later, Ball cheekily has Beth admit that Harper Lee is one of her favorite authors.) Flash-forward four years. Beth has become a freshman at NYU, excited both by a wide-open future, and this proximity to her beloved Uncle Frank. She is, nonetheless, an adorably naïve product of her conservative upbringing.
A few typical rites of passage into her first semester, she discovers — during a bohemian evening — that Frank is gay, and has long shared an apartment with his partner Walid “Wally” Nadeem (Macdissi): not merely another gay man, but a Saudi Arabian. Lillis established her talent for wide-eyed astonishment as Beverly Marsh in the recent “It” twoparter; it serves her equally well here. Although such a revelation is utterly beyond Beth’s ken, her bewilderment does not include judgment; she’s simply insatiably curious. And it’s impossible to resist Wally’s good-natured charm and genuine delight at meeting the niece who is the apple of Frank’s eye. While still trying to process all of this, a crisis: Daddy Mac has died suddenly, and Frank and Beth must return to Creekville. Kitty, apparently terrified of airplanes, doesn’t want her daughter to fly; Frank, therefore, agrees to drive them both. Beth is delighted, as she’ll have a chance to get to know her uncle better; she has so many questions. It soon becomes clear, however, that Frank’s discomfort over this road trip has deeper roots than (we now understand) a sense that he doesn’t belong. Bettany, a long-undervalued
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actor of transcendent talent, gives a phenomenally layered performance. Frank has, in effect, been giving a performance his entire life. In New York, or when around Beth, he’s a kind-hearted intellectual — but absolutely never snooty about it — keenly attuned to people and his environment. Out of his comfort zone, though, Bettany allows the man’s deeply buried anxiety and despair to surface. The closer they get to Creekville, the more apprehensive Frank becomes, as if he somehow knows this will be far more than a funeral. Beth’s sudden (and unexpected) slide into adulthood is fun to watch, and not merely for the way her appearance and clothing gradually become more hip (kudos to costume designer Megan Stark Evans). Lillis makes her progressively more spunky and saucy, culminating in a riposte to a clumsy pick-up attempt by a young garage mechanic: absolutely the best, funniest — and wincingly ontarget — put-down I’ve ever heard. (Ball should get an Oscar for those few lines alone.) Macdissi is a similar revelation. Wally is the soothing, restorative balm to Frank’s edgy, angstridden intellectual. Macdissi also
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Public Notices X NOTICE OF PUBLICATION
PUBLIC NOTICE
In accordance with the provisions of State law, there being due and unpaid charges for which the undersigned is entitled to satisfy an owner and/or manager’s lien of the goods hereinafter described and stored at the Life Storage location listed below.
NOTICE TO CREDITORS OF BULK SALE (Division 6 of the Commercial Code) Escrow No. 021970-EK (1) Notice is hereby given to creditors of the within named Seller(s) that a bulk sale is about to be made on personal property hereinafter described. (2) The name and business addresses of the seller are: A1 LAUNDRY, INC, 1801 HANOVER DRIVE, SUITE E, DAVIS, CA 95616 (3) The location in California of the chief executive office of the Seller is: SAME AS ABOVE (4) The names and business address of the Buyer(s) are: METZBY LLC, 6011 SANDLIN WAY, SACRAMENTO, CA 95819 (5) The location and general description of the assets to be sold are: FURNITURE, FIXTURES, EQUIPMENT & GOODWILL of that certain business located at: 1801 HANOVER DRIVE, SUITE E, DAVIS, CA 95616 (6) The business name used by the seller(s) at said location is: THE LAUNDRY LOUNGE (7) The anticipated date of the bulk sale is DECEMBER 17, 2020 at the office of: GREEN ESCROW SERVICES, INC, 2010 CROW CANYON PLACE, SUITE 212 SAN RAMON, CA 94583, Escrow No. 021970EK, Escrow Officer: EMILY KLENOW
Life Storage #635 3280 Jefferson Blvd. West Sacramento, CA 95691 (916)492-2056 And, due notice having been given, to the owner of said property and all parties known to claim an interest therein, and the time specified in such notice for payment of such having expired, the goods will be sold to the highest bidder or otherwise disposed of at a public auction to be held online at www. StorageTreasures.com, which will end on December 14, 2020 at 10 a.m. Khristine Mccurdy: Hsld gds/Furn, TV/ Stereo Equip Mary E Wade: Hsld gds/Furn Eduard Serikov: Hsld gds/Furn, TV/ Stereo Equip 11/20, 11/27 1050
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(8) Claims may be filed with Same as “7” above. (9) The last day for filing claims is: DECEMBER 16, 2020. (10) This bulk sale is subject to Section 6106.2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. (11) As listed by the Seller, all other business names and addresses used by the Seller within three years before the date such list was sent or delivered to the Buyer are: NONE. DATED: NOVEMBER 18, 2020 TRANSFEREES: METZBY LLC, A CALIFORNIA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY 116149 DAVIS ENTERPRISE 11/27/2020 11/27 1061
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT Filed: November 18, 2020 FBN Number: F20200936 1. Fictitious Business Name(s) WOODLAND STORAGE WOODLAND SELF STORAGE 2. Street Address, City, State and Zip of Principal Place of Business in California. Business is located in Yolo County. 1434 East Main Street Woodland, CA 95776 Mailing address: 1620 North Main Street #5 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 3. List Full Name(s) of Registrant(s), Residence Address, State, and Zip California Commercial, LLC 591 Colusa Ave. Yuba City, CA 95991 4. Business Classification: Limited Liability Company 5. Beginning Date of Business: The Registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: N/A “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) 6. Signature of Registrant(s): Ranjit Khagura 11/20, 11/27, 12/4, 12/11 1057