Thelma
You might think you know what “Thelma,” Josh Margolin’s first feature film, is going to be when you hear the concept. Clearly based on his own family (therefore it’s only fitting that the dedication at the end of the movie is “for Thelma,” implying that he didn’t even change his grandmother’s name for the heroine), “Thelma” is an affectionate and funny tribute to old people from a young filmmaker.
The film right away establishes the powerful bond between 93 year old Thelma (June Squibb) and her Gen Z grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger), a likable slacker. Squibb and Hechinger are wonderful in this opening scene, creating a believable deep intergenerational connection without overdoing it or giving us too much exposition. Usually cinema only gives us scenes like this when the grandchild is a child, not 24, which is a shame because there are so many interesting dynamics set up by that veteran new adult intergenerational relationship.
It solves that problem by making it clear that Thelma and Daniel share one issue: they’re infantilized, mainly by Daniel’s parents, Thelma’s daughter Gail (Parker Posey) and husband Alan (Clark Gregg). We meet them both during their busy workdays that keep them from answering Thelma’s frantic calls, so she ends up getting taken by a phone scam that costs her $10K.
“Thelma” sensitively depicts the humiliation of this con game and how it makes Gail and Alan wonder if maybe it’s time to put her in a home but she has other plans: She wants her money back.
Written directed edited by Margolin who has only one other directing credit (a comedy short) “Thelma” comes from the improv comedy world, and feels like it. Thelma may not be moving so quickly anymore, but Margolin’s camera often is. And his editing has a keen sense of comic timing. A running joke in the film is the way it stylistically imitates “Mission: Impossible” (Thelma watches Cruise sprint across a European rooftop, and it later inspires her to action), except here the impossible mission might involve getting off the floor after a fall. It’s a melancholy joke when you consider the entire “Mission: Impossible” franchise as Cruise’s offensive against aging being inevitable.
Ben (Richard Roundtree), a widower and old acquaintance who bores her until she needs his cherry red two-seater scooter, becomes Thelma’s unlikely accomplice. In his last feature film performance before his death last fall at age 81 which he does not parody or allude to at all, thank you very much Roundtree resists playing John Shaft or any other one note character, ultimately revealing an actor with far more range than he was ever given opportunities to show. It’s a lovely performance and a fond farewell.
However, obviously the entire movie is held up by June Squibb. She has 78 years of acting experience behind her, and it shows in the best way possible. Thelma is not a saint, she isn’t wise or funny or any other clichéd old person character from my childhood. I won’t say too much about the end except that Malcolm McDowell plays her villainous counterpart, who manages to be both hilarious and heartbreaking while also scaring the shit out of you with how ruthless he can be. Thelma makes some questionable decisions along her action packed journey, but for me it’s what she does next that counts: refusing to give up her independence even when all hope seems lost and let me tell ya’, there were times where I thought this lady was done for! No sirree bob, not our Thelma! If anything though, it was those rooftops if you could call ‘em such that made me realize just how heroic she really was; there ain’t nothing brave about a young man jumping from one tall building to another.
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