“Still Alice" is a moving film that showcases the immense talent of Julianne Moore; the movie is written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, a couple with a previous run of quirky Independent films like 2013’s “The Last of Robin Hood” or 2008’s “Pedro,” which played the Toronto Film Festival that year.
The film is about characters dealing with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, a horrifying condition when a person loses not only their faculties, but a major part of who they are as they descend into dementia.
Sounds cheery…
Well, this is indeed a tear-jerker, but to its credit the film isn’t all about manipulation of emotions as we drive towards the inevitable conclusion. I can’t speak to the source material, the 2007 book by Lisa Genova that Westomoreland and Glatzer based their script on, but the narrative does do more than engage in disease porn. There’s some lovely character moments amongst the family members, and while there’s plenty of times it seems things are playing out in fairly archetypal ways, the performances elevate the storyline from it coming across as mere manipulation.
So, good cast, huh?
Yeah, a very good one. It’s no surprise that all the attention is being placed on Moore, but the film doesn’t scream of Oscar bait (unlike, say, Jennifer Aniston in “Cake”). This is just one of several extraordinary performances Moore gave this year in a wide range of genres, and if this is the one for which she’s finally going to get her golden trophy, I won’t begrudge her.
Alec Baldwin is pretty good as the dad, clearly playing the “supporting” role in this relatively underwritten part. It’s an interesting change when the supporting partner is the male role, and it feels much more empty than the female lead.
Then there’s Kristen Stewart, an actor that continues to surprise with both her exceptional choices in roles and her capacity as an actress as she moves further away from the shadow of “Twilight.” She’s great once again, and given that she’s choosing to play against the likes of Moore and Juliette Binoche (in Cannes hit “Clouds of Sils Maria”) one can’t think of a better acting school for her to develop her craft. She’s still coming up, of course, but manages to hold her own against some of the finest actresses on screen, and that’s not to be overlooked.
What else does it have going for it?
Well, if you’re not watching this for some good performances, or for a hanky-wringing time at the theatres, there’s not that much else going on. My grandfather died of an early onset form of this disease, and as someone who has spent most of my life pursuing intellectual endeavours over physical ones, I’ve always had anxiety about the horrors of losing everything that I consider to be “me.” Alice may still be Alice in body, but things get far more complicated the more she slips away.
It’s a touching, moving portrayal of this situation, and while at times it leans in the direction of a sappy film, it’s rescued by some astute storytelling and sensitive performances.
There are dozens of films that Moore has been in that have deserved the recognition that she’s receiving for this one, and years from now this film may be best remembered as a footnote in her career, just as “Scent of a Woman” is hardly to be considered the definitive Pacino role. Still, it’s a decent film that’s emotionally raw, worth seeing if only to see how one of the masters of her craft single-handedly manages to rescue (along with the help of her castmates) a film from being a maudlin mess into a watchable, moving piece of cinema.
"Still Alice" opens in theatres on January 30, 2015.
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