Travis Fine's "Any Day Now" is a 1970's period film about the love that grows between a gay couple in Los Angeles and their quest to adopt an abandoned teenage boy with down syndrome. It is loosely based on a true story.

"Any Day Now" opens December 14 in select theaters (Photo Courtesy of Music Box Films)

Alan Cumming stars as Rudy Donatello, a quick-talking cabaret performer from Queens. Rudy meets his future-partner Paul (played by Garret Dillahunt) after he attends one of Rudy's shows at his club in West Hollywood. After an enchanting musical performance by Rudy and a quick sexual encounter in the parking lot, Rudy and Paul begin pursuing one another. 

They appear an unlikely couple by most measures. Paul is a closeted man who was previously married to a woman, and works in the district attorney's office,. He is slow to embrace the openly gay relationship Rudy is confident and comfortable pursuing, and yet the love between them is palatable and instantaneous. Paul lives a comfortable life in a nice home with a steady job, while Rudy lives paycheck to paycheck in a rundown bachelor apartment. 

It is in Rudy's seedy apartment building where he meets the other love of his life, a neglected teenage boy with down syndrome named Marco. Marco (played by Isaac Leyva) is the son of a reckless and abusive drug addict who frequently leaves him unsupervised. Rudy is aware of the inhumane situation in which Marco is living and attempts to intervene and protect Marco. When Marco's mother is finally arrested and taken into custody, her abandonment of Marco is visibly dangerous as he is disabled and alone.

With a full heart, Rudy embraces Marco and takes him under his wing, loving and caring for him outside the lines of the legal system. Knowing that protective services will eventually show up and throw Marco into an unideal home situation, Rudy seeks Paul's legal advice to help him map out a plan to help Marco. In Rudy's words, "Marco didn't ask to be born to a junkie, didn't ask to be born different, didn't ask for none of this. And I just don't see why he should be punished anymore for stuff that ain't his fault". Rudy is determined to be a parent to Marco, seeking temporary custody of the boy while his mother is locked up, going so far as to quit his cabaret act to demonstrate for the courts that he is a "fit" parent. He is coached by Paul who acts as his attorney, flawlessly pointing to legal loopholes which should permit Rudy to act as the competent and caring guardian that he is. 

Paul and Rudy act as a loving set of parents, helping Marco with his homework, taking him to the beach, reading to him- the basic but essential things he has never been given. While they are temporarily allowed to care for Marco, Paul and Rudy provide him with the most warm, loving and happy home he has ever known. 

They are able to do this under the guise of being cousins, which Paul's homophobic acquaintances are quick to undermine and expose.

Alan Cumming is magical in this film as the outspoken fighter of social and human justice. Garret Dillahunt is equally charming and convincing. Isaac Levya, who plays Marco, is infectious with a warm and tender performance. As a group, the trifecta is convincing as a loving and deeply devoted happy family.

"Any Day Now" is a gem for many reasons; it is an artistic masterpiece. The lighting, framing and musical choices are spot-on and range from dramatic to muted and soothing. The nature of the film as a period-piece helps transport the audience to a different time and space. Given its subject matter concerning homosexual couples, it also screams with modern relevance. Furthermore, "Any Day Now" includes a mesmerizing original song "Metaphorical Blanket" written and performed by Rufus Wainwright. 

The film is as frequently heartwarming as it is heart-wrenching. Overall, it is an incredibly inspiring, but by no means uplifting film. The prejudices and bold personal and systemic bigotry the main characters face is unfair, unwarranted and comes tragic consequences. 

Ultimately, the unconventional lifestyle of Paul and Rudy is deemed more threatening to Marco's health and well-being than living with his drug-addled and neglectful mother. In a horrifying twist of events, the mother is given a deal and allowed to resume custody of Marco. The results of that decision are heartbreaking and irreversible. 

The conclusion of the film is deeply sad. The closing monologue reminds the audience that the brute cowardice and prejudice rampant in the late 1970's persists today, and that until the policies and systems are changed, innocent people become victims and casualties.

In an interview with indie film writer Patrick McGavin, Alan Cumming described the film from his perspective playing the lead character. "The movie has a lot to say about gay rights, adoption, how we view disability. Mostly it is about family and the basic desire we all have to care and love others." 

For that reason, if nothing else, it is a film everyone should see. 

"Any Day Now" is an unrated film that runs 1 hour 37 minutes long. It opens in selected theaters across the US beginning on December 14. For a list of theaters, click here.

Check out the trailer for "Any Day Now" below.

Reach Staff Reporter Ashley Riegle by email. Follow her on Twitter here.