An unsentimental but emotional film for anyone who suspects in their heart of hearts that suffering really is the only thing that makes anyone worth a damn. Particularly if it is borne gracefully, but also if it’s not. Sometimes, it’s enough to simply remain in its presence. “Maudie” is Maud Lewis (Sally Hawkins), an arthritic black sheep who flees her politely awful family for the company of a deeply ornery fish peddler (Ethan Hawke) and his two-room shack. (She starts out as his housekeeper; when he comes to her in the night, she suggests that if they’re going to do that, they might as well get married.) It turns out she does some painting along with the cooking and cleaning: blotches of color amid the dim and dinge that work a slow, determined transformation. As her body twists in upon itself, the world around her is forced to open up: its eyes, its mind, its shriveled, hardened heart. Less the story of a real-life artist than the story of a real-life relationship gradually overwhelmed by beauty. (2016) — Matthew Lickona
This movie is not currently in theaters.