[yasr_overall_rating]
An eccentric suburban woman and a Walmart door greeter navigate their evolving relationship in this unconventional love story.
If one were to judge humanity solely by the dreck that Hollywood dishes out, they would most likely assume that our population consists of gorgeous, privileged people, whose issues can be resolved with just a wee bit of perseverance. From Will Smith’s perfect teeth and homeless chic in “The Pursuit of Happyness,” to Eddie Redmayne’s recent Oscar-winning portrayal of mental illness (as Stephen Hawking himself, no less!) in “The Theory of Everything,” the Dream Factory’s perspective of “common folk” is skewed, to say the least.
In direct opposition to such glamorized representations of the lower-middle classes and people with mental disabilities, filmmakers Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles structured their documentary “Dina” like a conventional rom-com, albeit one populated with real characters as opposed to their flashy big-screen stereotypes. The simple-but-profound “Dina” reminded me of films like “The Station Agent” – rare heartfelt gems that lack so much as a hint of glamorizing.
Dina (Dina Buno) is a middle-aged woman with a heavy past: she’s been stabbed several times and tragically lost her husband. Nine years later, she’s developed a neurological disorder and bad habits that lead to the dentist’s office (“I like sweets”, she says). She wears oversizes sweatshirts, Pink jumpsuits and big bows in her hair. She is obsessed with kangaroos, speaks in a frank monotone and adores the Kardashians.
She and her autistic groom Scott (Scott Levin) go to the movies and ride the bus together. Scott works at a nearby Walmart, lives with his parents in a cramped little house and says “uh-huh” a lot in response to Dina’s ramblings. Early on, he moves in with Dina, his first time away from the hoarders – which leads to a gentle but incisive study of sexual frustrations and insecurities, one of the running threads of the doc.
To ignite their sex life, Dina and Scott watch “Sex and the City” together, read sex books and discuss fetishes and masturbation. She takes Scott to the ocean for his first time. The filmmakers follow the couple through their nuptials, Adam Uhl’s still, observant camera catching all the complex nuances of a seemingly simple sequence of non-events. Dina confides in her friends at a mini-golf course. Scott plays Richard Marx’s 1980’s classic “Right Here Waiting.” Those little moments resonate. “Dina” is peppered with levity: the couples’ honeymoon suite is truly something to behold, as is Dina defending Caitlyn Jenner’s transition to her mom at a nail salon.
How much of Santini and Sickles’ documentary was staged by the directors remains debatable. Some shots seem a bit premeditated – the gorgeous sunset-field-set scene on a bench and the following poignant ending particularly struck me as more of reenactments than captured moments. For the most part, though, Dina’s life feels so real, you can almost feel the texture of her rumpled bedsheets. It’s difficult not to see yourself in Dina and Scott, though, paradoxically, you most likely don’t notice those people as they pass you by on the street or open a Walmart door for you.
“Things will be positive and filled with sunshine and hope,” Dina says early on in the film. Funny, unconventional, if slight, “Dina” may not be a thrill-a-second experience or particularly revelatory – but nor does it contain Margot Robbie as an uglified housewife. At its heart, it’s a love story, a rom-com about a real guy proposing to a real woman. In other words, a cinematic rarity these days. “Dina” strives for authentic and achieves it – mostly – with aplomb.
Now playing in select theaters
