The Soviet Union, the late 1980s, shortly before the country's overdue collapse: Potato (Hersh Powers) is a dreamer, and he's in love with American movies, dreaming to go to the US to become a filmmaker himself - but for being a dreamer he's bullied at school. His mum Lena (Sera Barbieri) is a prison doctor who becomes more and more disillusioned with the system when she's repeatedly asked to write false death certificates for killed convicts. Then Perestroika does away with  the failed "union", but really very little changes, so Lena chooses to become a mail order bride to be able to move to the US and also save her son from having to serve in the Russian military.

The US for Lena and Potato (now played by Marya Sea Kaminski and Tyler Bocock, respectively) proves to be the land of plenty of course, even though they can't understand all of American culture, like how is owning a murder weapon like a gun compatible with Christian faith (and of course they're not alone in wondering about that), and Lena has some problems adjusting to her right wing "husband" John (Dan Lauria), but anything's better than going back to Russia. Potato meanwhile has his sexual awakening - and within the more permissive American culture he can finally admit to himself he's gay. Eventually he even musters up enough courage to tell his mother - who to his surprise couldn't be happier and encourages him to live out his sexuality. Thing is, eventually John is bound to find out, and when he does he's less than enthusiastic. But there's a secret hidden in John's own past ...

Now with finding one's own cultural identity in a foreign country, and finding one's sexual identity against the grain, this film pretty much tackles two big topics in tandem, which sounds like a bit of a recipe for failure - and that said, Potato Dreams of America is one heck of an entertaining movie, thanks first and foremost to treat its central topics with the right amount of irony but without ever drifting off into moronic lows, which is of course also helped by a light-footed direction, a script peopled by relatable characters who are brought to life by a competent cast, and a just in general inclusive but also fun attitude that's likely to suck one in, no matter what your sexual or even geographical orientation.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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