Rufus Wainwright Movies

Writer/director Travis Fine partners with screenwriter George Arthur Bloom to tell the affecting true life story of a loving gay couple from Los Angeles who in the 1970s waged a valiant fight to adopt a Down syndrome teen abandoned by his drug addicted mother. When struggling singer Rudy (Alan Cumming) went to complain about the loud music blasting from his neighbor's house, the scene he found left him deeply saddened. Marco, an adolescent with Down syndrome, had been left to fend for himself by his absentee mother. Though Family Services quickly takes Marco in, a few days later Rudy finds him wandering aimlessly on the streets. Concerned, he brings Marco home and before long Rudy and his partner Paul (Garret Dillahunt) -- a closeted district attorney -- have become the boy's surrogate parents. For a while everyone is happy, though when Rudy and Paul's sexual orientation is brought into question by the court system, the two men find themselves locked in a protracted legal battle to become the legal guardians of the remarkable boy who showed them both the true joy of what it means to be a parent. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rufus Wainwright: Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy! captures a concert by the crooner devoted to songs closely associated to the deceased legend. Wainwright began to perform these songs in order to share the comfort he found in them after he felt the country started to go on the wrong path during the war on terror. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

The lives and experiences of four students attending the first lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and queer high school in the nation are explored as musicians Rufus Wainright, Sleater-Kinney), Jonathan Richman and more step into the studio to record a benefit album featuring songs from John Cameron Mitchell's film Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The Hetrick-Martin Institute is home to Harvey Milk High School, the first learning institute in American designed specifically to meet the needs of LGBTQ students struggling to find their way in the world. In this documentary, viewers are invited to follow these students as they explore a whole new world of educational possibilities. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A handful of New Yorkers find their paths crossing in ways that force them to examine their lives in this contemporary drama produced by Ismail Merchant. Isabel (Elizabeth Banks) is a twentysomething photographer who is supposed to marry her boyfriend, Jonathan (James Marsden), in a month. But Isabel has found herself wondering if marriage is the right thing for her. Meanwhile, her mother, Diana (Glenn Close), a well-known film actress, has learned her husband has been seeing another woman, and while they have an open relationship, Diana finds this hurtful. Over the course of the day, Diana meets Alec (Jesse Bradford), a handsome young actor, and Isabel is introduced to Peter (John Light), a journalist, and both women begin to question their current relationships. The first feature for director Chris Terrio, Heights also stars Michael Murphy, Eric Bogosian, Thomas Lennon, and Rufus Wainwright. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Larry Weinstein's Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen is about the final years of the great songwriter. As a heavily medicated, elderly Arlen (Paul Soles) goes about his days with his nurse, he remembers his life's accomplishments and imagines performances of some of his most well known songs. Among the singers who appear performing in the film are Rufus Wainwright, Jimmy Scott, and Sandra Bernhard. This film was screened at the Victoria Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Tommy (Anthony Rogers) is a young stamp collector who gets his friend Ralph (Lucas Evans) to trade him a stamp from Ralph's father's collection in this engaging children's fantasy. Ralph and sister Nancy (Jill Stanley) try to buy it back from the local collectable store with no success. The siblings instead come up with a stamp collection from 1928 which includes a letter from a little boy. The letter contains magical rhymes that when recited shrink Ralph down to size. He is then able to travel around the world on various stamps to exotic places. Ralph learns that a rare collection of stamps awaits him when he arrives in Australia. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi