Simple, quiet, true, and lovely - really? A new American movie, not terribly stylized, with a mostly unobtrusive director and a primary cast over 45? And not boring, and just a bit sappy? Huh. I didn't see "High Art". I didn't finish "Laurel Canyon". But I didn't want "The Kids Are All Right" to end. After this one, Lisa Cholodenko is aces with me.
A story's a story as long as it feels like one. I watched this movie with tears in my wide eyes, cared about everybody, couldn't find a bad guy, didn't want one. Plot? Yes. Plot points? Not so much. It plays like life, which is less about notable moments of beat change than a subtle ebb and flow of regression and renewal. In fact this movie is least effective, strains credibility most, when it reaches for conventional action.
So, okay, the third act's a little facile; nobody gets in real trouble, nothing costs enough. I love it anyway. Beautiful performances in an intelligent, well-directed script: this is why more women should make movies: because they don't yell all the goddamn time. Real life contains violence, insanity, and inconsiderate behavior, but there are degrees, man. This movie reflects enough variety in its mirror-up-to-nature, as 'twere, to overwhelm the same old sturm und drang of the last few Jason Reitman, Rob Reiner or Sam Mendes bores. Nobody has to die, nobody has to crash a car or break a bottle or spit out bad jokes like sunflower seeds just to tell a story. Drama's where you find it. A family provides plenty; most people don't survive their own.
Not enough can be said about the five principals either. Performers like these can sell on-the-nose dialogue (it's often better than that) as if it's Shakespeare, and they do. As my buddy Dmitry's always said, Annette Bening is excellent as long as she doesn't have to play a sympathetic character. Mark Ruffalo doesn't make mistakes; Julianne Moore has forgotten the meaning of the word. And these kids are more like real kids than any I've seen in a movie since "Donnie Darko", which is my highest praise for teenage verisimilitude.
See this movie, take your children, your spouse, your potential other. If you don't recognize yourselves in there somewhere, check your pulse.
A story's a story as long as it feels like one. I watched this movie with tears in my wide eyes, cared about everybody, couldn't find a bad guy, didn't want one. Plot? Yes. Plot points? Not so much. It plays like life, which is less about notable moments of beat change than a subtle ebb and flow of regression and renewal. In fact this movie is least effective, strains credibility most, when it reaches for conventional action.
So, okay, the third act's a little facile; nobody gets in real trouble, nothing costs enough. I love it anyway. Beautiful performances in an intelligent, well-directed script: this is why more women should make movies: because they don't yell all the goddamn time. Real life contains violence, insanity, and inconsiderate behavior, but there are degrees, man. This movie reflects enough variety in its mirror-up-to-nature, as 'twere, to overwhelm the same old sturm und drang of the last few Jason Reitman, Rob Reiner or Sam Mendes bores. Nobody has to die, nobody has to crash a car or break a bottle or spit out bad jokes like sunflower seeds just to tell a story. Drama's where you find it. A family provides plenty; most people don't survive their own.
Not enough can be said about the five principals either. Performers like these can sell on-the-nose dialogue (it's often better than that) as if it's Shakespeare, and they do. As my buddy Dmitry's always said, Annette Bening is excellent as long as she doesn't have to play a sympathetic character. Mark Ruffalo doesn't make mistakes; Julianne Moore has forgotten the meaning of the word. And these kids are more like real kids than any I've seen in a movie since "Donnie Darko", which is my highest praise for teenage verisimilitude.
See this movie, take your children, your spouse, your potential other. If you don't recognize yourselves in there somewhere, check your pulse.