Cesc Gay’s Truman is a surprising movie. At once a film about cancer, death and friendship, Truman manages to explore these situations with honesty and depth, while skirting melodrama or tawdry, maudlin chintz. It’s an emotionally mature movie, yet one with a light touch, living in the space between drama and comedy. Occasionally a bit slow, it’s also rewarding in its gentle humanity. Truman isn’t a movie that sets out to light the cinematic world on fire but is intellectual and touching in quiet, welcome ways.
The idea is that Tomas (Javier Camara, I’m So Excited), now living in Canada, is flying to Spain to visit Julian (Ricardo Darin, The Secret in Their Eyes), his lifelong friend who’s dying of lung cancer. It turns out that Julian’s diagnosis is bleak, and instead of struggling through treatments that won’t save him, he’s decided to let the cancer take its course. At the behest of Julian’s cousin Paula (Dolores Fonzi), Tomas wants Julian to change his mind but quickly finds out this is not an option — Julian has made his decision and is more concerned with finding a home for his aging pet boxer Truman.
That’s the gist of the film, as Tomas and Julian discuss their lives and their friendship, all the while trying to find a home for Truman. Julian is surprisingly lucid about his impending death, something that takes Paula off guard and confuses Tomas to a degree, although, being his friend, Tomas accepts the idea of making Julian’s last days as comfortable as possible, even if he wishes Julian would reconsider the treatment option.
The film spends time on Julian’s need to tie up loose ends, although this never turns into the sentimental cheese of something like The Bucket List (2007). They visit Julian’s son (Oriol Pla) and run into his ex-wife (Elvira Minguez), but the film never cheats when it comes to the feelings it’s exploring. As I said, this isn’t a movie concerned with cheap sensations, and any emotions it does dredge up feel deserved. Truman is quiet in this sense. Tomas understands Julian’s need for dignity and bravery in the face of death, so the movie becomes less about dying and more about accepting mortality on one’s own terms. It’s a welcome change from the usual tear-jerking manipulations of other movies that use cancer as a plot device, namely by not forcing on its audience a heart-rending death scene to punctuate the movie. Everything is understated and feels true, a small miracle in a small little movie. Not Rated. Opens April 28 at Grail Moviehouse.
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