Snapshots begins when a grandmother, mother, and daughter all gather for a weekend together at the family cabin by the lake. Rose (Piper Laurie) is the grandmother, and content with her life living alone by the lake. Patty (Brooke Adams) is damn mad about everything and drinks too much. The youngest generation, Allison (Emily Baldoni), is troubled about her personal situation.
Snapshots brings the family together when things are just rocky enough for emotions to run high and for secrets to come out.
Allison presents her grandmother with an old Brownie camera and a developed roll of film that was still in it. Those snapshots of a long ago time bring up a series of flashbacks that tell the majority of the story.
When young Rose (Shannon Collins) and her husband (Max Adler) first moved to the lake, they met another couple and became friends. They were Zee (Brett Dier) and Louise (Emily Goss).
A personal note, I’m old enough to remember what Piper Laurie looked like as a young woman. Shannon Collins isn’t even close. That detail, which probably wouldn’t matter to anyone younger, kept popping into my head. Piper Laurie kept acting well into her 80s. She passed away in 2023. #EldersRock.
Rose’s long held secret was that she and Louise fell madly in love that summer and had a hot romance right under the noses of their husbands. Rose reviews that old love as she looks at the photos and remembers.
The lesbian love story was hot while it lasted, but ended the same sad way many lesbian romances from the 1960s ended, even though this was a more recent film.
Meanwhile, in the current timeline, Patty is dealing with her own issues and Allison has problems at home and a secret of her own.
Melanie Mayron directed the film. I doubt it hit any top ten lists the year it came out (2018) and is now findable only well hidden inside Prime Video, Freevee, Peacock, and a few other streamers. It’s a sweet film about family, love and acceptance. If you look for stories directed by women or LGBTQ stories, it’s worth looking up.