Speaking at the Cleveland International Film Festival, “Homemakers” writer-director Colin Healey said his film is “about a drunken, shitshow hipster who inherits a terrible house. In Pittsburgh.” Sold! Rachel McKeon invests herself body and soul as Irene, an apparently homeless Austinite drunkenly rebuilding this abandoned, tumbledown edifice left to her by her grandfather, aided by a long-lost cousin (Jack Culbertson). Healey’s restrained micro-budget production is graced with pinpoints of loveliness drawn from elements as simple as strands of lightbulbs rising up the walls of a stairwell, as well as a copiously imaginative thrift store esthetic. But the majestic center of gravity of “Homemakers” is the epically charismatic McKeon, lavishly unleashed and yet physically focused, never floundering. She—they?—Irene and McKeon are fucking amazing and fucking terrifying, at the risk of vast understatement. A life of blaze and haze in search of simple contentment, with dear human complexity, caught in a funny, ragged, raucous, even joyous capsule. With Molly Carlisle, Dan Derks. 85m. (Ray Pride)
“Homemakers” opens Friday, October 9 at Facets. This is the U. S. theatrical premiere. Healey will appear after Friday’s 7:30pm show and Saturday’s 5:45pm and 7:45pm shows. Possibly NSFW trailer below.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
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