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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.
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