'Thelma' makes light work of a heavy subject with nonagenarian action

93-year old Thelma Post (June Squibb) lives alone in Los Angeles, though her grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger) regularly visits, as well her daughter (Parker Posey) and her husband and son-in-law (Clark Gregg). When Thelma is scammed over the phone into thinking Danny is in prison by a con artist (Malcolm McDowell), she recruits her friend Ben (Richard Roundtree) from a nearby assisted living home and hijacks his scooter to set out across LA to find the scammers...

Though it may share some story structure with Alexander Payne's 'Nebraska' and a cast member in June Squibb, the two movies couldn't be more far apart.

Where 'Nebraska' was in black-and-white and was a movie acutely aware of its age and the concerns surrounding it, 'Thelma' is almost the complete opposite. It's shot in gorgeous, sunny colours and June Squibb is almost like an action star for a 93-year old woman. Sure, she's driving a scooter for most of the movie, yet the manner in which Josh Margolin shoots her circumnavigating a bed or making a discovery in her case is done like it's a tense action thriller. Case in point, Tom Cruise features prominently in the background of this, not to mention the score by Nick Chuba is filled with bongo beats ala 'Mission: Impossible'.

It would be fairly easy for 'Thelma' to mock the advancing years of its cast in a way that's deliberately mean-spirited. Be it the current US presidential race or just society itself being obsessed with youth and vitality, the idea of graceful aging and there being life and vigour past a certain age is a tricky one. In 'Thelma', writer-director Josh Margolin denies nothing because it's impossible not to. Yet, this limiting is what gives it so much freedom because none of the actors are all that interested in preserving themselves. Malcolm McDowell's character appears in the final scene with an oxygen tank and nasal cannula, while Richard Roundtree - Shaft, no less - has to get around in a scooter.

Josh Margolin directs with a swiftness and ease that would easily speak to a great career in conventional action movies, yet here it's tempered with a softness and a heart that allows for gentle moments of humour between Squibb and the rest of the cast. 'Thelma' is lighthearted and fun, without sacrificing the depth inherent in its story. It's a lot like a great yarn spun up at a family get-together, which isn't all that far removed from the truth. Margolin based much of the movie's story on a true-life tale that happened with his own grandmother, also named Thelma.