When our main characters are chatting he uses a locked-off camera to give us a two-shot and then cuts between them both as they share stories and wicked barbs. The main setting takes place in one large two-story home where Mertens’ shots are not particularly dynamic but do a job.
Tsegay as Season is a fine foil to Buss’s grumpy OAP with her character showing a lot of patience based on some close observation and intelligent listening skills. I’m sure if Mertens had more of a budget though that the make-up department would have helped with this aspect. The timeline also feels a little off, because if Myrtle was 12 when Earhart disappeared that would make her around 97 years old at the start of the film, and, as good as Buss is in the role of Myrtle, without any prosthetics she can’t convince us that she is almost 100. He makes his points strongly and obviously, and although we are expecting these subjects to be breached, Mertens tends to hammer them home when a little more shade would have probably been wiser. The Amelia Earhart reference comes from Myrtle’s childhood where a young Myrtle, who was 12 when Earhart disappeared, hero-worshipped the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.Īs director and writer, Al Mertens approaches the film’s obvious flashpoints such as Myrtle’s racism, parental issues, and old age with less of a brush and more of a sledgehammer. Using flashbacks Myrtle tells Season all about her life experiences, her family, and her lovers. This brings into her life Season, a young black caregiver played by Merhawit Tsegay, who herself is very headstrong if still quite innocent and has yet to experience the full range of life’s ups and downs. Mary Buss plays Myrtle – an elderly southern lady who, due to recent ill health and difficult behaviour, has been forced to change her carers many times. They are forced to spend time together, under unusual circumstances, and slowly begin to learn from each other, they both end up changing for the better before realising that no matter who they are or where they come from, they are not so different after all. The formula is simple, you tell the story of two people, one is usually white, and the other is black, they are from opposite sides of the tracks and have two completely different personalities. It is also a film we have seen many times before. Thank You, Amelia Earhart is a film about love and patience.
The truths the two women learn from each other leave both changed forever in Al Mertens’ Thank You, Amelia Earhart. Myrtle is a foul-mouthed and bigoted elderly lady who is rude toward everyone, including her latest young caregiver Season.
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