Synopsis
An aging hairdresser escapes his nursing home to embark on an odyssey across his small town to style a dead woman's hair for her funeral, rediscovering his sparkle along the way.
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Cast
- Udo KierPat Pitsenbarger
- Jennifer CoolidgeDee Dee Dale
- Linda EvansRita Parker Sloan
- Michael UrieDustin
- Roshon ThomasShaundell
- Ira HawkinsEunice
- Annie KitralMiss Gertie
- Tom BloomWalter Shanrock
- Eric EisenbreyDavid
- Dave SorboroJosiah
Recommendations
- 83
Consequence
Even when the narrative strays or lingers a few moments too long, it is Kier that reels it back in. Ultimately, Swan Song succeeds and proves that fabulousness has no expiration date. - 83
The Film Stage
The film is built on a wonderfully nuanced performance by Kier, who behind his sadness and longing can still lob a sassy witticism at rival Dee Dee Dale, and when they finally confront each other over discontinued hair spray, it’s pure joy to watch. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
What's most notable about Todd Stephens' heartfelt salute to a real-life local legend is that the campiness of its outrageous plot becomes secondary to the soulful poignancy. - 75
IndieWire
Kier gets the role of his lifetime as a fabulously snarky, acerbic, long-retired hairdresser in Todd Stephens’ Swan Song, a dark comedy that totters to and fro the campy and the melancholic with wincing laughs and real pain. - 75
Slant Magazine
The disconnect between the realities of different generations of gay men is one of Swan Song’s most unexpectedly joyful through lines. - 75
The A.V. Club
Swan Song can be clumsy and sentimental at times, but that’s sometimes the cost of earnestness. - 70
Screen Daily
Writer-director Todd Stephens can allow quirkiness to overwhelm the thin narrative, but the story’s emotional underpinnings guide the film past its occasional rough spots. - 67
The Playlist
The pacing is wobbly – it runs a too-flabby 105 minutes – and some of the filmmaking is pretty rickety . . . . But Swan Song is about its performers, and they shine.
