Lily Tomlin has undergone a remarkable revival in recent years and has earned Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her role as Frankie Bergstein in Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie. Here's where she might earn a previously unlikely Oscar nod.
The 76-year-old plays the titular role of Elle, a lesbian poet not coping very well with the recent death of her long-term partner. Her 18-year-old granddaughter Sage turns up pregnant, looking for $630 for an abortion. But Elle's broke, so they set off looking to raise the cash, approaching various acquaintances and delving into personal demons.
Divided into six chapters, Grandma is basically a multi-generational road trip, fundraiser and therapy session.
Beginning with a trip to a coffee shop where Elle fails miserably and hilariously to offload a few first edition books, the story gradually moves from farce to something more substantial.
The unlikely couple visit the teenager responsible for Sage's pregnancy, who has little money and less brain cells. Then it's on to Elle's ex-husband Karl, but that doesn't go quite to plan either.
Julia Garner does a fine job as Sage; there are some good cameos from the likes of Orange Is the New Black's Laverne Cox, Marcia Gay Harden, Sam Elliott and Elizabeth Peña, but this film really belongs to Tomlin, who puts in a remarkable shift as the feisty, irascible, but ultimately empathetic Elle.
It's pushing things to believe that someone who looks like Bill Wyman's ma could beat up a healthy young man, never mind have the energy to spend a huge chunk of a day on the road looking to raise money for an abortion, but Tomlin carries it off with a world-weary, deadpan delivery reminiscent of the great Buster Keaton.
John Byrne
