‘Fairyland’ is the best San Francisco gay movie since ‘Milk’

As awards season ramps up and big-ticket Hollywood franchises fill IMAX screens, don’t overlook “Fairyland.”

The lovely, heart-on-its-sleeve drama captures the Castro District culture of the 1970s and ‘80s through the eyes of a newly liberated gay man’s daughter. Produced by Sofia Coppola and the Coppola family’s San Francisco-based American Zoetrope, it stars Emilia Jones (“CODA“), Scoot McNairy (“A Complete Unknown“), “American Idol” alum Adam Lambert and onscreen veteran Geena Davis. The film is San Francisco writer-director Andrew Durham’s adaptation of Alysia Abbott’s bestselling 2013 memoir and is quite simply the best movie to depict that era since Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” (2008).

“Fairyland” struggled to find a distributor since it made its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and  subsequent screening as Frameline 47’s opener at the Castro Theatre. But in the time since, as America has grown increasingly intolerant, the movie’s voice speaks even louder.

After the death of his wife in a car accident, Midwesterner Steve Abbott (McNairy) moves with their young daughter Alysia (a terrific Nessa Dougherty, a Bay Area native) to San Francisco in their Volkswagen Beetle, with Eric Burdon and The Animals’ “San Franciscan Nights” playing on the radio as they enter the city.

Scoot McNairy (left) and Nessa Dougherty in “Fairyland.” (Tobin Yellin)

It’s the 1970s, and gay liberation is having a watershed moment with the rise of San Francisco supervisor and gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk and the empowerment of disenfranchised voices through protest. The Abbotts float between a series of apartments and roommates, and young Alysia’s eyes are opened by a gay culture she can’t understand and a party scene that is fun and exciting – when she’s not sleeping through it.

Steve has a series of boyfriends and hookups (Lambert is one) and explores his creativity through poetry and journalism for a gay newspaper, often leaving Alysia alone or with roommates.

“I’m not neglecting you,” he tells her. “I’m teaching you independence.”

But the optimistic times of the ’70s give way to the nightmare of AIDS in the ’80s, and by then Alysia is played by Jones as a rebellious teenager, browsing through vinyl records and hanging out with friends in vintage clothing stores.

A scene from “Fairyland,” based on Alysia Abbott’s memoir of growing up the daughter of a gay father in 1970s and ’80s San Francisco. (American Zoetrope)

Like a typical teenager, she’s embarrassed by her father and his lifestyle. Soon, lingering questions about her father’s relationship with her mother resurface.

“How did I raise such a normal girl? Where did I screw up?” Steve asks.

“You want me to go down the list?” Alysia retorts.

It doesn’t help that her grandmother (Davis) is constantly trying to get her to move back to the Midwest.

Emilia Jones stars as Alysia Abbott in “Fairyland.” (Jim Welch)

Durham’s direction is sensitive and assured, and he does a great job mixing his location work with archival footage to create an authentic sense of what San Francisco was like during those times. This is not one of those movies that shoots in the city for two days then absconds to Vancouver for the rest of the shoot. This is a Bay Area movie through and through.

More Information

4 stars

“Fairyland”: Drama. Starring Emilia Jones, Scoot McNairy, Maria Bakalova, Nessa Dougherty, Adam Lambert and Geena Davis. Directed by Andrew Durham. (R. 116 minutes.) Starts Friday, Oct. 10, at the Balboa Theater, 3630 Balboa St., S.F. balboamovies.com; Grand Lake Theatre, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. renaissancerialto.com

Steve Abbott was a man who proudly referred to himself as “a monk and a whore in the same body.” In “Fairyland,” San Francisco mirrors that duality.

It was a different time, but its echoes still feel achingly familiar.

This article originally published at Review: ‘Fairyland’ is the best San Francisco gay movie since ‘Milk’.