Doc captures Matlin’s fearless fight with adversity
It’s easy to think of Marlee Matlin as a shooting star, plucked from obscurity at the tender age of 19 and thrust into the realm of “overnight sensation” by a gossipy press infatuated with her on-and-off-screen romance with “Children of a Lesser God” co-star William Hurt. Then, POOF, gone as quickly as she arrived. But it was through no fault of her own. No, blame falls on an industry that for decades refused to accommodate her with scripts worthy of an Oscar winner, choosing instead to squander her talent on largely forgettable guest spots on network TV.
Hearing – well, watching – her recount those lean years in Shoshannah Stern’s “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore,” you’d be forgiven for being just a little bit pissed over how she and her fellow deaf actors have been so overtly marginalized. But mostly, you sit in awe of a woman who never allowed her disability to define her, opting instead to parlay her instant fame into advocacy, culminating in the huge success of 2022 Best Picture winner, “CODA.”
As the title “Not Alone Anymore” suggests, that film happily ended her 35-year reign when co-star Troy Kotsur became the second hearing-impaired actor to go home with an Oscar. He’s here to expound on what that night – and Matlin – meant to him. But he’s not alone. We also hear from her BFF in adulthood, Henry Winkler, who gave her a home when she had none, as well as Randa Haines and Siân Heder, the women who, respectively, directed her to an Oscar win with “Children of a Lesser God,” and to a nomination for “CODA.”
All, including her two older brothers and lifelong interpreter Jack Jason, uniformly speak of Matlin’s fierce drive to embrace, not pity, her hearing loss at 18 months, due to unknown causes. Determined to be seen as Marlee, and not “that little deaf girl,” we watch her sign her reminiscences via ASL, translated into lovely pink subtitles while craped on a comfy white couch that perfectly offsets her vibrant-colored novelty socks. She holds nothing back, as Stern, who is also deaf, reclines at the opposite end of the sofa, peppering her friend with queries about Matlin’s rebellious youth in suburban Chicago.
We learn of the indulgences in drugs and boys, the sexual assault at age 11 at the hands of a babysitter and an inherent loneliness arising from being the only deaf member of a Jewish family that wasn’t attentive to her wants and needs. It was a deprivation that would spark a lifelong dedication to improving communication between the hearing and hearing-impaired.
Her victories in that quest are numerous, but she proudly highlights the most gratifying ones. Like the key role she played in pressuring Gallaudet University into hiring its first deaf president in its then 124-year history. Her fight for government-mandated closed captioning. And, of course, demands that Kotsur be cast as her sweetheart of a husband in “CODA.” You sense the latter is especially joyous because it relieved her of the burden of being known as “the only deaf Oscar-winner.”
Then there’s the aforementioned gossip fodder involving her tumultuous affair with Hurt, who was 16 years her senior when they fell in love during production of “Children” in 1985. On the surface, it appeared to be a storybook romance, but behind the scenes, Matlin describes it as a living hell marked by physical, emotional and psychological abuse. She admits she permitted it to escalate, attributing her reluctance to escape to her drug addiction. But escape, she did, tripping into yet another “first,” as the only hearing-impaired person, at the time, to have checked into the famed Betty Ford Clinic.
As always, Matlin picked herself back up, married a cop and had four children, none of them hearing impaired. But, still, something was missing – decent roles. Not just for her, but all deaf actors like Stern, Kotsur and Lauren Ridloff, who earned a Tony nomination in a Broadway revival of “Children of a Lesser God.” Then along came Sorkin, who wrote a juicy role specifically for Matlin on “The West Wing.” But even that was an anomaly until “CODA,” a movie she moved heaven and hell to become a part of.
It serves as a perfect bookend to Stern’s film, which opens with Matlin’s win for “Children of a Lesser God.” From there, we’re treated to a career retrospective complete with the usual array of rare photos and videos, as well as testimonials by her friends and family. But, oddly, not a word from her husband, Kevin Grandalski, with whom she recently became a grandparent. Matlin vows to Stern that it’s her goal to communicate with the newborn solely through ASL. A “sign” of the times? More like yet another step forward for a woman content to never look back.
Movie review
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore
Rated: Not rated
With: Marlee Matlin, Henry Winkler, Aaron Sorkin, Troy Kotsur, Lauren Ridloff, Sian Heder and Randa Haines
Director: Shoshannah Stern
Runtime: 98 minutes
Where: In theaters June 20 (limited)
Grade: B
