Any Day Now – review

It sounds like something from Channel 5's afternoon schedule – gay couple in 1970s LA battle for custody of a neglectful neighbour's son who has Down's syndrome – but Travis Fine's drama digs far deeper into its every scene and character. Alan Cumming is Rudy, a drag artist railing against the insistence that good dads don't wear blusher; Garret Dillahunt is his boyfriend Paul, a lawyer who has an in with the system, if uncomfortable ties to the macho world of the bar. Fine never rushes his plot points, instead painting a picture of this generally unfabulous moment in muted-brown production design, and allowing his actors to unpick this case's nuances. He has fostered a credibly guarded turn from Dillahunt, and Cumming's most modulated and affecting screen performance yet. The film fights its small fight honestly and with commendable integrity. The kid (Isaac Leyva) is a heartbreaker, too.