August : Osage County - Film review

Posted on: 2014-02-04

Our rating:

You could call it Oscar-bait, but I prefer to call it genuine and authentic.


 

Paul Holbrook reviews August: Osage County at Cineworld Deluxe, Bristol.

August: Osage County tells the spirited story of the flawed and broken Weston family and what happens when they are all reunited in the wake of a family tragedy. The story centres on three sisters who come together at the home they grew up in to nurse their grieving, drug-addicted, cancer-stricken mother played by the ever reliable Meryl Streep. Streep is joined by an equally impressive ensemble headed by Julia Roberts, a returning Juliette Lewis and relative newcomer Julianne Nicholson.

The entire, impressive cast list are without fault here and each and every character is constructed to perfection with not an emotional stone unturned,  each delivering performances that demand your attention and leave you hanging on every well crafted word. The script, which is adapted from the stage play by the same name, is a simple one, but with enough ‘set ‘em up and let ‘em go’ moments the cast get plenty of scope to really stretch their acting muscles, and that they do. Julia Roberts in particular is the best she has ever been and is fully deserving of her Oscar nom.

A:OC’s story is thin, and that sits just fine with me because the entire two hour running time is spent exploring the intricacies of the most memorable, infectious yet poisonous, loving yet insane, cruel yet honest family I have ever seen committed to screen. The movie not only sits neatly in the ‘dramedy’ genre it nails every aspect of it. The comedy is very neat, tidy and never veers off into the silly, and when the laughs are real, the characters are real and the story is tinged with heart you’re left with a very memorable, easy to watch film.

I can’t comment on the loyalty to the stage play but seeing as the script was adapted by the writer of said play, Tracy Letts, I am going to go out on a limb and say it delves into that territory and John Well’s direction seems to come across as ‘you can’t have too much of a good thing’ and I would have to agree. One scene in particular; the ‘awkward family dinner’ that has certainly been done to death on screen is elevated here to all new levels of honesty, realism and most importantly melodrama and the fact that those attributes sit side by side with laugh out loud comedy leads to an impressive, extremely long, play-like delivery that at no point feels alien.

The movie has a message here, and some might find that message to be a little force-fed, but it’s a message none-the-less and it’s one that is delivered with a seemingly ‘write what you know’ attitude. Children are indeed crafted by their parents, their upbringing and their own obscured memories of childhood and we know this, but when Meryl Streep delivers cranky, warped, bitter and downright callous with such energy and commitment you get a starting point for the other actors and actresses to follow suit and really let themselves go, they get deep and dirty into their own character work and the results are mesmerizing if sometimes a little pretentious. You could call it Oscar-bait, but I prefer to call it genuine and authentic.

For a story with so little pizzazz, the fact that the two hour movie holds your attention throughout is testament to the performances of the outstanding cast, nobody skipped a beat and for me and it drew comparisons to Glengarry Glen Ross which is praise enough to tell you that this is one to watch.  9/10.

 



Article by:

James Anderson

Born and raised in the suburbs of Swansea, Jimmy moved to Bristol back in 2004 to attend university. Passionate about live music, sport, science and nature, he can usually be found walking his cocker spaniel Baxter at any number of green spots around the city. Call James on 078 9999 3534 or email Editor@365Bristol.com.