Darcy (Holly Hunter) is a middle-aged Southern woman living a hand-to-mouth existence where money, love and rain all seem to be in short supply. She works as a Administrative Assistance in the local University and has been taking grad school classes at night in hope of bettering her chances. Despite the fact that the town’s local barman (Kim Coates) clearly fancies her, she has kind of given up on romance. Her way around the water shortage is to sneak into her yard in the early hours of the morning and surreptitiously hoses her flowers under the cover of darkness, whilst sharing a cigarette with her best friend and neighbor Bryd (Carrie Coon) one half of an interracial lesbian couple, who is also up to the same thing.
Effectively Darcy has put her life on hold since her only son 26 year old Walker, took his own life six years ago. She has been looking for answers, and a way to move on from her grief ever since without any success, and then suddenly she discovers a You Tube video that send shivers down her back. It’s shows one of Walker’s old college pals Kevin (Turner Crumbley) who has made a fortune in New Orleans running a chain of family restaurants (make-your-own hot dogs) which was actually Walker’s idea. Not only that, Walker’s structured business plan was rooted in happier memories from his childhood with Darcy.
She persuades Bryd to take a road trip in her beaten old Ford truck to go confront Kevin about the stolen plan, by and insisting on taking all the back roads and a couple of detour stops, the movie takes on a whole rather rambling story with a few too many layers. However it was never ever really about the plot, but always about Hunter’s mesmerizing performance that just lights up the screen so radiantly. She is Darcy and Darcy is her as they inhabit each other’s skins that make Hunter such a sheer joy to watch, even when the material could have been so much better. There is simply no-one who plays a free-spirited good ‘ole ‘Southern hippie with the same authenticity or charm as she does.
She and Coon have this great chemistry together especially as Bryd is determined to help her best friend find whatever missing part of the puzzle is so that she can get back on with her life that is at the core of what almost had the potential for being a perfect female buddy movie.
Strange Weather was written and directed by Katherine Dieckmann
Labels: 2017, drama, Holly Hunter
