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Greetings, readers! Here at OneFilmFan, it has been said, it will now be said again, and will continue to be pointed out that the independent film genre is one of the most overall underrated and underappreciated realms of the film world. Made for micro-smaller budgets, they rely on deeper storytelling, characters, and performances from the cast to engage the viewer. This newest entry is for one such effort that far more than covered these requirements, and hence the review of Sony Classics and Killer Films‘ “Still Alice”.
Co-directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland and based on the novel by Lisa Genova, the story brings us into the life of successful Columbia University Linguistics Professor, Dr. Alice Howland (Julianne Moore), who during a guest lecture at UCLA finds gaps in her memory are starting to emerge. After returning home to New York, the episodes only become more frequent, and after tests are done, it is confirmed she has Early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Once this is shared with her family, including husband John (Alec Baldwin) and three grown children Anna (Kate Bosworth), Tom (Hunter Parrish), and Lydia (Kristen Stewart), it becomes a trial of everything they share and the love that will hold them together. As her mind begins to fade more and more, Alice desperately tries to live her life normally, utilizing everything she can think of to help her maintain current and past memories, even as the realities of the disease ravage her. Visiting places, looking at photos, and experiencing every moment she can with her family, the building frustrations haunt Alice despite the small victories she has. But through this struggle, Alice continually bonds more than she ever has to Lydia, who on the surface is the least successful in life among the children, but whom ultimately becomes an unexpected caretaker and lifeline to what she is–still Alice.
Magnificently crafted, powerfully delivered, sincerely evocative on multiple levels, and potently emotional, the journey of this character is one that the viewer cannot help but be drawn into and highly impacted by. Moore’s performance here is nothing short of mesmerizing. Realistic and effectively heart-wrenching and warming, she infuses the character of Alice with of all the conflict she is facing in watching everything in life she’s accumulated being slowly and harshly stripped away, yet doggedly hanging on to every moment she has with equal parts fierce determination and bitter frustration. As the viewer, you will feel every moment. Strong supporting turns by veteran actor Alec Baldwin as loyal husband John alongside Bosworth and Parrish as the two elder children genuinely works here. But, this reviewer was actually quite pleasantly surprised at the still-subdued yet appropriately emotional performance by Kristen Stewart, casting aside teen angst (“Twilight“) and lack of any emotion (“Snow White & The Huntsman“), by finding a place here as Lydia, whose initially closed-off and mildly rebellious character soon finds a bond she did not expect with her ailing mother. A wonderful orchestral soundtrack provides the needed ambiance in the right places, assisting in adding to the emotions portrayed. “Still Alice” truly brings out the human side of what this disease can do and how if effects those around it, and it should help shine a bigger light on the plight of those who are facing it. One can only hope the awareness it raises is something we as human beings can all take to heart.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
