Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

Eliza Hodgkins 1812 · 08-06-2010, 12:55 PM

Saw THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT last night and was very happy to find myself watching a brief period of time in a family's life, a family that just happened to be unconventional. After seeing it, I think the film's title was clearly written to say, "This is a family portrait. This is not going to be a movie about kids struggling with their lesbian parents in a world that doesn't want lesbians raising children." And it's a very good family portrait, at that. It's not overly dramatic, doesn't sentimentalize, and doesn't fixate too much on circumstances that would be handled with the subtlety of an after-school special by other filmmakers.

Characters were incredibly well defined and I was hugely impressed with both Mia Wasikowska (who was stellar in the unstellar IN TREATMENT series, and who was kind of terrible in ALICE IN WONDERLAND) and Mark Ruffalo (some of his best and funniest work, I think).

Spoiler:

Bening and Moore were great, and each have two scenes in which they really standout. But expecting to be mostly impressed by their performances, I was surprised to be blown away by the other two.

08-06-2010, 12:55 PM	#11
Eliza Hodgkins 1812 Sputnik Sweetheart Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Long Beach Posts: 2,685	Saw THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT last night and was very happy to find myself watching a brief period of time in a family's life, a family that just happened to be unconventional. After seeing it, I think the film's title was clearly written to say, "This is a family portrait. This is not going to be a movie about kids struggling with their lesbian parents in a world that doesn't want lesbians raising children." And it's a very good family portrait, at that. It's not overly dramatic, doesn't sentimentalize, and doesn't fixate too much on circumstances that would be handled with the subtlety of an after-school special by other filmmakers. Characters were incredibly well defined and I was hugely impressed with both Mia Wasikowska (who was stellar in the unstellar IN TREATMENT series, and who was kind of terrible in ALICE IN WONDERLAND) and Mark Ruffalo (some of his best and funniest work, I think). Spoiler: After her parents drop her off at college, there are scenes where Joni wants a moment alone to herself before she says goodbye to her family and watches them with a trembling jaw as they drive away. I can't think of another moment in a movie where a person has better conveyed the mixed emotions you feel when you leave a family you love for the first time and feel simultaneously liberated and abandoned. She captured all of its heartbreak, terror, and excitement. Bening and Moore were great, and each have two scenes in which they really standout. But expecting to be mostly impressed by their performances, I was surprised to be blown away by the other two.
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