Written and Directed by Tom Fitzgerald Canada, 2011, 93 mins Censor's rating: M - Contains offensive language and nudity Remaining showings at Out Takes: Auckland: Sunday 27 May 5:50pm Wellington: Sunday 3 Jun 7:00pm Wellington: Thursday 7 Jun 6:30pm Is Cloudburst the most uproariously and irreverently funny lesbian film ever made? Quite possibly. Yet it’s tempered by rare realness from the aged lesbian odd couple at its heart, who will drag you along by the hair in their road trip of laughter, failings, victories and anguish. Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker play a couple which has been together for 31 years Olympia Dukakis (Tales of the City) seems almost bigger than the screen in her portrayal of Stella, a ballsy 80-year-old lesbian with bitingly brutal wit and foul mouth, who is fiercely protective of her partner of no less than 31 years Dot, played by Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot). Dot is blind and under threat from a granddaughter, oblivious to her sexuality, who whisks her off into a home. Stella pulls the shiftiest of stunts to bust Dot out, and they head to Canada in a red pick-up with the intention of getting married, in the hope it will prevent them from being separated. They pick up a gorgeous, sweet, barely dressed male hitchhiker who is travelling with nothing. The trio winds its way through the wrinkled North American landscape, they find out he has plenty of baggage of his own. While it has all the ingredients of the most heart-rending drama, the film is cooked up with such fierce hilarity that you are likely to walk out of the cinema with a huge grin on your face and the remainder of a tear in your eye. The utter genuineness and warmth of the elderly couple in their tender moments is as beautiful as it is bumpy. Dukakis’ biting, brutal wit is worth more than the admission price, leaving two theatres full of lesbians at the opening night of Out Takes in Auckland probably needing stitches, thanks to lines like “If I were on death row I’d request my final meal be served between KD Lang’s legs.” What was unfortunate was a technical hitch at a particularly poignant moment which led to the lights coming up and the music playing, leaving some scratching their heads as to whether a film could actually end mid-scene and mid-sentence. Perhaps it was the opening night jitters. Luckily the film was more than strong enough to draw the audience back in when it was put back on track. For anyone debating heading to Out Takes: Cloudburst is a must-see. As long as you can cope with more than a few bursts of colourful language, lesbian style. - reviewed by Jacqui Stanford Jacqui Stanford - 24th May 2012