Sam and Tusker are traveling across England in their old RV to visit friends, family, and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have.
“Supernova” brings together Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as lovers, delivering chemistry that becomes more and more apparent in their soft expressions of affection while enduring the tragic affliction of dementia. Their onscreen partnership transcends the definition of queer sexuality into a simple representation of love, sharing a vivid description that people of all sexualities can suffer from the same tragedies that plague life. “Supernova” normalizes the imagery that queer love is still love, even without the extravagance or the media fetishization that is often overused in its representation. The film is a gift, simple and tender, like England’s countryside where it takes place.
Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) are in love and their long-term adoration for each other is tested when Tusker is revealed to be suffering from dementia. To make the most of their remaining time together, the two men embark on a road trip through the English countryside, visiting places of memory and creating new memories together with other loved ones. Despite their best efforts, Sam and Tusker continue to battle their own internal fears – Sam struggles to grasp a foreboding reality where Tusker would eventually leave his side while Tusker grapples with being a passenger in a ship that he can no longer control. Their resilience is quiet and subtle, but it is still powerfully perceived through the smallest interactions – the way their hands reach for each other in comfort or the way they try to hide their fears under faltering confidence in the present.
The way that Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci play off of each other’s emotions is mesmerizing. Firth carries his tired eyes to deliver a somber tone in Sam and Tusker’s relationship. He plays Sam with a weariness that trembles both in stubbornness and in fear, which seemingly reflects the dynamic in the partnership: Tusker is Sam’s rock. But what happens when your rock loses its hardy strength? Tucci, on the other hand, carries a grin of false bravado to deliver a balance to the somber reality. Tusker is all jokes, dry sarcasm, and harshly resistant to his growing condition as he abandons medicines and ignores episodes of serious symptoms. It becomes all the more climactic when Firth and Tucci switch tones after secrets are plucked and left in the open. Suddenly, Sam is the rock and Tusker is the bumbling and heart-wrenching mess that leaves everyone a wreck.
“Supernova” is like an unfinished book that found its conclusion through a wistful piano melody – the two complete each other despite the unprecedented changes in the narrative. It is a promising and gentle film, rediscovering a love that gets deeper with time and with adversity.
In Select Theaters Friday, January 29th
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