Still Alice (2014) – Movie Review ★★★★
Director: Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland – Cast: Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, Alec Baldwin, Kate Bosworth & Hunter Parrish – Synopsis: Julianne Moore plays Alice a happily married women living in New York, she has three children and is a well thought of linguistics professor at a local college – one day she starts to forget words, and then gets lost on her daily run – Alice seeks help from a doctor which leads to a devastating diagnosis – Verdict: Glatzer and Westmoreland’s Still Alice is an exceptional analysis of a women’s struggle with a rare illness, it’s an important film that opens your eyes & gives you a glimpse of what the many sufferers of Alzheimer’s go through, yes it’s a subject matter that’s tough to watch but Julianne Moore’s portrayal of Alice who’s suffering the early stages of a rare form of the illness is heartbreaking, unsettling & at times disturbing – as an actress she’s effortless in bringing real emotion to the role – as Alice slowly begins to unravel, you feel her pain, your distraught at her predicament and as her appearance slowly becomes disheveled & her memory deteriorates you kind of feel like one of her loved ones, helpless statue like & frozen in the moment watching and hoping things will improve or at the very least stabilize – one of the most painful scenes in the movie is when Alice is recording a video message for herself to re-watch when her illness finally grabs hold & gets too much & her ability to make simple decisions are made more difficult – Moore captures Alice’s pain, her anguish, and her obvious confusion – Its a remarkable, gutsy display and one of Julianne Moore’s finest to date – although Still Alice’s focal point is Moore’s character the movie also has an excellent turn from Twilight’s Kristen Stewart playing Alice’s daughter Lydia, I couldn’t imagine anyone more suited for this role than Stewart and she excels – Kate Bosworth, Alec Baldwin and Hunter Parrish also add great balance to the film playing members of Alice’s family – Overall: although I felt Still Alice could have done with an extra 30mins run time, the movie is excellent, from it’s droning, depressing score that adds to the films tragic nature, the realism captured by Denis Lenoir cinematography and the deeply moving performance from Julianne Moore – Still Alice is a picture of high intensity that pulls at the heart strings, it’s also a movie that I hope will highlight the illness Alzheimer’s and the struggles that people who has the illness go through….
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