Ancestors

“Not survivors, but descendants” are the last words in the credits of Ancestors, but they could also be first. David Turpin’s feature debut is an affecting, tenderly wrought elegy for those who fought and lost during the darkest years of the AIDS epidemic, and a tribute to the dignity and love they passed on to the next generation.

“I’m not from anywhere,” Beau (Eanna Hardwicke) says. The year is 1988 and he’s in exile from Ireland, where homosexuality is still illegal, and living in London. Maurice (Rupert Everett) — self-described as “South London’s premiere Auntie” — gives Beau the run of his cafe that’s more a refuge for lost queer men than a functioning restaurant. One afternoon, one of Maurice’s “strays,” Tiny (Jack Wolfe), comes through the door with the promise of a job. Sensitive and inexperienced where Beau is hardened and weary, Tiny eventually wears him down enough to become his flatmate. Tiny receives a queer education, given a stack of books by Jean Genet from Beau, and a lecture in queer icons by Maurice, and begins to see the possibility of a fuller life.

“I feel dirty inside,” Tiny confesses to Maurice one night. The year is 1988 and the Center of Disease Control in the United States will report 46,000 fatalities from AIDS that year alone. The young man has been diagnosed and suddenly Beau goes from reluctant friend to resistant caretaker. He comes up with a system so the increasingly forgetful Tiny remembers to take his pills. But the proximity to Tiny stokes Beau’s own unspoken fears about the disease ravaging a community that is desperately trying to persevere. This manifests in Beau alternately pulling Tiny close to him and then pushing him even further away until one day he disappears completely. Concerned, Beau goes in search of Tiny in the familiar cruising spots, bars, and hangouts, bringing him closer to truths he’s not ready to face.

The ambitious picture unfolds in a carefully weaved tapestry that stitches together the past and present, dreams and memories, music, and even Gloria (Christina Hendricks), a former Hollywood goddess, now a queenly Charon ferrying souls to the afterlife. With uncommon confidence, Turpin brings it all together without losing a thread. The resulting sensation, guided with fluid editing by Stephanie McCutcheon, is a film whose ethereality is its grounding touch.

It’s in this environment that allows rising star Hardwicke (IFTA award winner for last year’s TIFF entry Saipan) to give yet another impressive turn. As a man not at home anywhere, Beau is an island unto himself; flinty, guarded, and not easily likeable, but the actor never makes him totally distant. Hardwicke’s measured performance empathetically portrays Beau’s mix of anger, helplessness, and sorrow that grows as Tiny — a symbol of promise and loss — tumbles further into his illness and needs him more than ever. With such a strong center, the rest of the ensemble follows with Everett (charming and solemn), Wolfe (doe-eyed and vulnerable) and Jessica Reynolds (devoted, as Beau’s best friend Shell) working to build the thumping, bruised heart of the movie.

“I like love stories and ghost stories,” Tiny says, and that perfectly describes Ancestors. Turpin has fashioned a story of love, one that finds Beau raging against his affections for Tiny, a man who with each passing day is disappearing forever. As he searches for Tiny, when he’s asked, “Is he someone special?” it’s as if Beau only realizes it in that moment. The contemplative and delicate film is filled with such unanswerable and unexpected questions: Where do we go when we die? Will our sins be forgiven? But the most potent question Turpin poses is: how do we remember someone when they’re gone? The answer might be: we remember them as if we they are right here with us.

The year is 1988, and in December, World AIDS Day will be observed for the very first time.

Director: David Turpin
Screenplay: David Turpin
Cast: Eanna Hardwicke, Jack Wolfe, Jessica Reynolds, Rupert Everett, Christina Hendricks
Producers: David Collins, Eamon Hughes, Miranda Ballesteros
Cinematography: Patrick Jordan
Production design: Louise Mathews
Costume design: Saileóg O’Halloran
Editing: Stephanie McCutcheon
Music: Stephen Shannon
Production companies: Samson Films (Ireland), Lunatica (United Kingdom)
World sales: Mister Smith Entertainment
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Discovery)
In English
106 minutes