I saw Still Alice on February 4, 2015!! This was an incredible movie based around a serious illness in Alzheimer's disease. There were some amazing performances throughout this movie. I think the ensemble cast in its own right was good all around, but two stood out for me.
Julianne Moore portrays Alice Howland who is diagnosed with familial Alzheimer's disease, which is rare, but it can be passed genetically. Her father initially had the illness, which is why she has contracted it. It's amazing watching her from the start to the finish of the movie. She really did a great job incorporating different stages of the illness. From the opening scene at her 50th birthday to the last scene, she displays how intense Alzheimer's can be. She begins as an intelligent linguistics professor at Columbia. She has confidence, but as the disease grows, her confidence wanes & her frustration grows. Her mind deteriorates at a very accelerated rate. I can understand why Alice would be feeling such frustration not being able to remember words, where she is, or who her youngest daughter is. What Moore does best with this role is portray how she becomes a shadow of her former self. Her mental anguish & emotional pain has the audience connect with her. That needs to be said. She's showing the effect of living with the disease and how serious of an issue this is. That's the message of this. This is a very scary disease. Imagine living with this not knowing where you are, who you're talking to. It's very important to have a great support system. Overall, Alice has that with her husband John (played by Alec Baldwin), her oldest daughter Anna (played by Kate Bosworth), her son Thomas (played by Hunter Parrish who some may know as Silas Botwin from Weeds), and her youngest daughter Lydia (played by a favorite actress of mine in Kristen Stewart). The family drama aspect really adds some great layers to the overall movie. Julianne Moore deserves her Best Actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the effects of Alzheimer's as well as the effect of losing who you are. It's a really powerful performance all around. It was very well rounded. There were more dimensions to the Alice character at every stage of the movie.
While I thought Julianne Moore was excellent in this, I think that it would be a shame not to discuss Kristen Stewart's performance as Lydia Howland. As I noted, I've always been a fan of her. This past year in 2014 saw her turn out some really good performances. I think her work in this movie deserved a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Her role as the youngest daughter showed how far she has matured as an actress. I think her scenes with Moore, particularly the poem about love at the end showed how good she really is. It's great watching somebody give her the platform to display that she can act. In a way, her character is struggling to succeed in terms of career. There's some sort of bond between mother & daughter there. It's not the exact same type of struggle, but there is vulnerability on each end. What I like about Lydia is she doesn't get frustrated with Alice's outbursts. She knows that it's Alzheimer's causing her to outburst. Her patience is amazing, and her dedication to her mother is very uplifting. She's the most supportive out of all the family. You really need to see this to watch Stewart's performance. It bothers me that she was snubbed at the Oscars.
This movie gets a 4/5 for a powerful movie featuring two excellent performances by Julianne Moore & Kristen Stewart, family drama surrounding the horrific nature of Alzheimer's disease, and the ability of Moore, Stewart, and the rest of the cast to add dimensions to the characters, thereby, increasing the emotional impact of the movie. This is truly one of the better movies for the Oscars this year.
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