If Only the Supreme Court Would Watch ‘Any Day Now’

Guest Blog: That film about same-sex marriage might change minds, as "Blue Caprice" could on gun control

While the news is full of stories about same-sex marriage and gun control issues, it struck
me how two movies I have seen recently viewed closely touch upon both subjects.

Travis Fine’s "Any Day Now" is the moving true story of a gay couple whose efforts to adopt a young man with Down syndrome in 1979 are thwarted because of their homosexuality. Actors Alan Cumming, whose singing numbers are entertaining while
his wrath against the system is riveting, and Garret Dillahunt express such care for the
young man, but the biased court is blind to this loving couple.

A winner of a number of audience awards, the film is both a crowd-pleaser and inspires anger over such archaic views. One cannot help thinking that a showing at the Supreme Court could be helpful before they rule on the same sex marriage cases.

Opening up last week’s Museum of Modern Art and Film Society of Lincoln Center’s New Directors festival, which features first-time directors from all over the world, was the drama "Blue Caprice," directed by Alexandre Moors.

Exploring the mesmerizing and evil influence John Allen Muhammad had over abandoned 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo, the film offers a frightening storyline of how the perpetrators of the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks planned out their arbitrary attacks.

Actors Isaiah Washington and Tequan Richmond are convincing in their roles as the deadly father-son duo. As someone who is a resident in the Washington D.C. area, the film literally hit too close to home and brought up painful memories of the fear we all felt. It also demonstrates how those with mental illness and evil intentions should not be allowed to purchase weapons.

The poignant storytelling of these two films reminds us that that movies dealing with the past can still resonate in today’s world. It is just too bad that "Blue Caprice" is not opening until the fall, after the gun control bill is voted upon in Congress.

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