The Kids Are All Right
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(Some spoilers)
We finally got to see this critically acclaimed domestic dramedy tonight. In most ways, it was great. The acting was fantastic, especially Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. The directing was good too. I liked how the director portrayed one character's shock when she makes a certain discovery and then has to go and join a dinner party. Everyone else is chatting amiably, but the camera has close-ups of her face, showing every wrinkle and downturned lip corner, making her look old and vulnerable. And the sound of the conversation around the table is muted, like it can't penetrate the buzz in her head. Also, when the kids first meet the Mark Ruffalo character, Paul, he is shot in a way that makes him look very handsome and appealing. Later in the movie, when the kids are discovering his imperfections, the camera shots tend to be from just below chin level, so that you're looking up at Ruffalo's face in a way that makes him look older and jowly.
But I had a hard time with the philosophical bent of the movie. Annette Benning's character, Nic, was unpleasant. She's an intense and prescriptive overachiever, and she's beat her partner down (psychologically) over the years for being feckless and without focus. And the members of her family (Julianne Moore as her partner Jules and their two kids) respond to Paul because he has something genuine to offer them---a more forgiving assessment of themselves, a forthright appreciation that allows them to flower. But in the end Paul is thrown to the wolves by the screenwriter. He's "punished," in a plot sense, while Nic gets away scot free. She's almost abusive in her negative intensity, and yet Jules's character is the one apologizing at the end.
I also have a hard time with the "marriage is tough" message that rounds out the movie. Yes, marriage can be tough. But it should be more joyful than tough, and couples should be more and more understanding, more in harmony, as the years go by. A relationship that is stuck acting out the same conflicts and dynamics after twenty years isn't admirable. Paul provides the means for these characters to grow and learn, in a very valid way. But he's dismissed at the end as an interloper and loser, not a source of wisdom but a shiny illusion. It's okay to show him as flawed and limited, but it's not okay to repudiate the value that he's presented as bringing to these characters.
Still, a good movie, especially whenever Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo are on screen. Funny too.
-
(Some spoilers)
We finally got to see this critically acclaimed domestic dramedy tonight. In most ways, it was great. The acting was fantastic, especially Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. The directing was good too. I liked how the director portrayed one character's shock when she makes a certain discovery and then has to go and join a dinner party. Everyone else is chatting amiably, but the camera has close-ups of her face, showing every wrinkle and downturned lip corner, making her look old and vulnerable. And the sound of the conversation around the table is muted, like it can't penetrate the buzz in her head. Also, when the kids first meet the Mark Ruffalo character, Paul, he is shot in a way that makes him look very handsome and appealing. Later in the movie, when the kids are discovering his imperfections, the camera shots tend to be from just below chin level, so that you're looking up at Ruffalo's face in a way that makes him look older and jowly.
But I had a hard time with the philosophical bent of the movie. Annette Benning's character, Nic, was unpleasant. She's an intense and prescriptive overachiever, and she's beat her partner down (psychologically) over the years for being feckless and without focus. And the members of her family (Julianne Moore as her partner Jules and their two kids) respond to Paul because he has something genuine to offer them---a more forgiving assessment of themselves, a forthright appreciation that allows them to flower. But in the end Paul is thrown to the wolves by the screenwriter. He's "punished," in a plot sense, while Nic gets away scot free. She's almost abusive in her negative intensity, and yet Jules's character is the one apologizing at the end.
I also have a hard time with the "marriage is tough" message that rounds out the movie. Yes, marriage can be tough. But it should be more joyful than tough, and couples should be more and more understanding, more in harmony, as the years go by. A relationship that is stuck acting out the same conflicts and dynamics after twenty years isn't admirable. Paul provides the means for these characters to grow and learn, in a very valid way. But he's dismissed at the end as an interloper and loser, not a source of wisdom but a shiny illusion. It's okay to show him as flawed and limited, but it's not okay to repudiate the value that he's presented as bringing to these characters.
Still, a good movie, especially whenever Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo are on screen. Funny too.
-
posted by Anonymous at
10:48 PM
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