Julianne Moore has spent the last five years at the height of her career: an Academy Award this year for “Still Alice,” an Emmy for “Game Change” three years ago and SAGs and Golden Globes for both. After spending two decades as one of the essential character actresses of film after her collaborations with Robert Altman (“Short Cuts”), Todd Haynes (“Safe” and “Far from Heaven”) and P.T. Anderson (“Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia”), Moore is now safely going to be remembered and acknowledged in her generation the same way Glenn Close and Meryl Streep are.
When she began receiving accolades for her performance in “Alice” last autumn, it was no surprise considering her history of great performances. But when the feedback about the film itself wasn’t quite as positive, film lovers started wondering if Moore was winning as a make-up or sympathy vote for not winning earlier in her career with “Boogie Nights” and “Far from Heaven.” Filmmakers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland are given their first big Hollywood project of adapting Lisa Genova’s novel. As the cast and directors have said in interviews, “Alice” was a project of love that transcended their small budget.
The film shows the sudden and quick transformation of 50-year-old Alice Howland (Moore) from brilliant, respected linguist professor to a premature Alzheimer’s victim. From the rapid descent into the disease’s progression, we see Alice grow distant from her husband, John (Alec Baldwin), and grow closer to her youngest child Lydia (Kristen Stewart) as she visits her family in New York City despite attempting to be an actress in Los Angeles.
“Still Alice” is Glatzer’s and Westmoreland’s second film after the quickly forgotten “The Last Days of Robin Hood” two years ago. Glatzer, who battled amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, during the making of the movie, died Tuesday at age 63.
The majority of “Alice’s” success can be aimed at Moore and her reputation as a critical darling. Despite the fact that the direction of the film is a bit bland and unremarkable, and Stewart and Kate Bosworth are miscast as her daughters, Moore does give a good performance and proves she can still achieve success all on her own. She shows us a once confident wife and mother who is now frightened because she can’t control what her brain remembers and memorizes. Moore carries the whole picture practically on her own, and proves that her Oscar isn’t entirely sympathy.
For audiences who are fans of Moore or just great acting in general, “Still Alice” is worth a look at while it’s still in theaters.
