Director: Wash Westmoreland, Richard Glatzer
Writer: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland (Screenplay) Lisa Genova (Novel)
Starring: Julianne Moore, Kate Bosworth, Shane McRae, Hunter Parrish, Alec Baldwin, Seth Gilliam, Kristen Stewart
Plot: A linguistics professor and her family find their bonds tested when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Moore’s Powerhouse Performance
Story: Still Alice starts on linguistics professor Alice Howland (Moore) birthday, with her family, husband John (Baldwin), children Tom (Parrish) and Anna (Bosworth), the family is filled with college educations, successful careers and with distant daughter Lydia (Stewart) following her own dreams, we get our normal higher educated family.
With Alice noticing slight mistakes in her life, loss of knowing where she is, loss of words, she starts seeing a doctor who can gives her the news that she has early Alzheimer’s disease, but even worse her children could have the disease too.
Thoughts on Still Alice
Characters – Alice is a professor of linguistics, one of the most renowned in her field, she has the perfect family of grown-up children following their own careers. She notices her memory going before learning she has early onset Alzheimer’s, she must learn to live with this disease which will make everyday routine a challenge. John is Alice’s husband, he supports her through her tough times, never giving up on her. Anna, Tom and Lydia are her children that have been living their own lives, who come to support her too.
Performances – Julianne Moore gives the performance of her career, you believe every struggler Alice goes through because of her performance. Alec Baldwin is great in the supporting role as are the rest of the cast, with this being one of the first films to help Kristen Stewart break out of the Twilight fame.
Story – The story shows us what happens when a once successful professor Alice gets struck down with Alzheimer’s, the strain it can put on the family, her life and leave her helpless for the first time in her life. The idea that families will have to face this similar situation will come through and this shows how it can take away the delights they once had from life and shows how more will need to be done to help people. The support from the family helps, but you can’t help but wonder what it would be like for someone who is alone that is suffering from this.
Settings – The film shows us the life that Alice and her family have, this brings us into a world of a real family that could be suffering through the same situation.
Scene of the Movie – The Speech.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Text talk should have been the first signal for a linguistics expert.
Final Thoughts – This is a powerful performance heavy film that shows us the suffering the victim of the disease will go through. The struggle the family will be put through as they see a loved one disappear in front of them, something incredibly difficult.
Overall: This is one of the best performance heavy films.
Rating
