Louise (Karen Gillan) got dumped by her boyfriend over three years ago. She’s still not over it. After a night partying with their mutual friends during which she’s informed he has a new girlfriend, she stumbles to his new apartment, tries to climb onto his window ledge in a vain attempt to see him, and ends up falling and breaking her hip. She then gets put in physical therapy with women well more than double her age; this would cramp most 28-year-olds’ lifestyles, but Louise’s only pastimes are not leaving her apartment, not playing her guitar (though she claims to be a musician), and not returning her dad’s (Kevin Nealon) phone calls.
While in recovery, Louise has a few uncomfortable run-ins with Antonina (Małgorzata Zajączkowska), a fellow patient who is very gruff, very Polish, and doesn’t speak a word of English. After showing her a kindness, Louise ends up getting hired as Antonina’s caretaker, a job she takes only semi-seriously. Though they can’t really communicate (not that that stops Louise from talking a mile a minute every second of their time together anyway), through each other’s presence they both learn how to accept the passage of time—that Antonina needs to accept the realities of aging, and Louise needs to actually start acting like an adult and maybe, just maybe, call home.
Writer Anna Greenfield and director Lisa Steen (both in their feature debuts) have crafted a funny and heartfelt story that wrings a lot of humor out of some pretty depressing topics. The lion’s share of that is accomplished in either slapstick or in Louise’s constant self-deprecating one-sided dialogues with Antonina, which means your enjoyment of this movie will hinge heavily on how charming you find Gillan’s performance. My answer to that question is “very”—Gillan had me frequently laughing out loud as she met each new indignity on her road to recovery with heavy sighs, determination, and a funny spoken aside or two.
This being a first feature for the writer and director, there are bits where the movie’s structure gets a little creaky. Many of the side characters are squishily defined, and sometimes feel like they appear out of nowhere to give the plot a push. There’s a sequence toward the middle of the movie where Louise gets a bad update about the state of her ex’s love life and while it’s understandable that it sends her into a downward spiral, the specific big plot shift that occurs at this point (which is, unfortunately, a pretty load-bearing portion of the plot) doesn’t scan as believable.
Fortunately, none of these weak points manage to completely scuttle the film’s central plot, and it builds to a powerful scene that ends the movie with a satisfying yet emotionally devastating gut punch. Gillan is a joy to watch throughout Late Bloomers, but her acting in this scene is simply fantastic, a performance as raw and passionate and real as the earlier parts are lighthearted. Late Bloomers leans more heavily on the comedic side of the “dramedy” genre, but in the end its dramatic arc lands just as strongly. | Jason Green
Late Bloomers will screen at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (3700 Forest Park Ave.) on Saturday, November 18 at 1:00 pm as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival 2023. Single film tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for Cinema St. Louis members and students with valid current photo IDs. Further information is available here.
