In Francine, Melissa Leo plays a woman leaving prison to return to society, dealing with mountains and molehills on the outside. From the look of the trailer, the Oscar winner has the weight of the world on her shoulders as the movie – the feature narrative debut of documentarians Melanie Shatzky and Brian M. Cassidy – appears to be the cinematic equivalent of the photo on a driver’s license.
It’s stark, raw and attentive to detail. It will have you aching for background music (or anything, anything at all) to take your attention away from the imagery.
And what’s with the cats? Is her cat lady status profound or perplexing? How did a trailer featuring an actress rubbing cats on her face just make me want to see the film? Maybe it’s because she looks absolutely nothing like she did for her role in The Fighter. It’s transformative and proof of her amazing strength as a performer.
Check it out for yourself:
Francine is playing at the MoMA in New York on September 12th and will expand nationally soon after.
