Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Still Alice

A high-functioning established warm caring multifaceted professional is confronted at the height of her career with the onset of Alzheimer's disease, and its effects quickly take hold.

She's a fighter, accomplished and strategic, boldly doctoring her plight, taking things in stride, coping, achieving, her family coming to her aid to help out wherever they can, together functioning as a cohesive unit, through strength, distress and helplessness increasing as time passes, slowly transforming into stoic acceptance, the acknowledgement of pain.

Still Alice maturely approaches illness from fruitful familial viewpoints, Alice Howland's (Julianne Moore) husband and children supporting while suffering to do what they can.

Julianne Moore delivers a career defining performance as she pluralizes her conception of identity, stunningly adding varicose variabilities.

There's a great scene where her new self communicates with a predecessor via a preprepared homemade video, a buoyant succinct butterfly.

Her alpha husband (Alec Baldwin as John Howland) convincing juggles his urge to dominate with his expressions of sympathy, respected by Alice through understanding, his attempts to hide his frustrated emotions callously manifested at times.

He has trouble halting his progression.

The children react as befits their personalities, aptly introduced through the art of conversation, the daughters featuring more prominently than the son.

The family's love holds back its depression although it could have been more sorrowful.

Hope in the darkness.

In tune.

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