August: Osage County (John Wells, 2013)

[hearthesilence]

August: Osage County

I'm not familiar with this play, but Jesus, it feels like all the actors were told to mug for the camera. (Except Sam Shepard, but apparently his character's death is the setup for the whole story.)

[knives]

Stick with the Smiths version. It has a crazed Patrick Stewart.

[domino harvey]

Meryl Streep doing a pretty good Margo Martindale impression must be the reason the real thing wasn't even mentioned by name here. Martindale'll have the last laugh when she wins Best Supporting Actress though, assuming the film follows the play well-enough

[flyonthewall2983]

I bet the Weinstein's will put their Oscar money on this rather than The Butler.

[Amy Racecar]

And just when the Orange & Teal thread had moved to the second page.

[JabbaTheSlut]

The lovely Roberts and Streep, give me the creeps. And the music...

[hearthesilence]

I like Meryl Streep, but her longtime naysayers have made some spot-on criticisms about her film acting, and I think those problems have gotten worse in recent years. She's still an excellent mimic (often at the service of mediocre films), but in something like Doubt she comes off as way too mannered, especially compared to the rest of the cast. Even with the camera mugging that goes in this trailer, I'm not too thriller by the way she sticks out.

[domino harvey]

Most reviews out of the fest are middling to poor, with a lot of the blame on the poor direction. Streep looks like the best shot for awards with a Best Actress nom (maybe also Julia Roberts) and almost no one is mentioning Margo Martindale which means John Wells really really must have fucked this adaptation up-- as I've said many many times, that role is genetically engineered to win awards and you'd have to actively work against it to stop it from being effective. It really tells me everything I need to know about how far from the play's path this must have strayed. What a shame!

[knives]

Supposedly what kills it is the opening up which shouldn't be too surprising. If anything this is a play which speaks to clamping down.

[A.Hope]

It really tells me everything I need to know about how far from the play's path this must have strayed. What a shame!

Interesting considering the most common criticism for August is that it feels too much like the play. The plot is adapted so closely - to be expected when the screenplay is done by the original author - that the hour that is cut between the two takes some effort to remember (I'm thankful that all of my favourite lines remained - especially 'forsook you and the horse you rode in on').

A lot of reviews I've read have criticised the film for not making the most of the mobility allowed by film. I couldn't disagree more. I think the few scenes where we're taken out of the Weston home are handled very well. Particularly when Vi attempts to run away. That sense of being in the middle of nowhere is essential - you know that she could run for miles and still be closer to that house than anything else. I also really like the opening sequence. It seems a bit pathetic at first but having re-watched it a few times I can't help but be reminded of the title sequence of Twin Peaks. Just very commonplace scenes of a small working town - it really gives this sense of entrapment, like nothing exists beyond Osage County.

I also think the hammy acting is essential. There are a few characters whose presence is much more subtle, Ivy and Uncle Charles in particular, and the flamboyance of their relatives helps to reinforce their own roles as the "normal" ones. The whole point of this family is that there are so many strong personalities and egos flying around that it's impossible for them to exist without encountering every possible family dysfunction.

[domino harvey]

After being scared away from the lukewarm critical and commercial reception, I am happy to report that I think this is probably as good an adaptation of August: Osage County as one could expect short of a straight lift of the play. Letts' own alterations and abbreviation generally serve to streamline the messier tangents and paths of the play, and so the film feels a bit rushed at times and not all of the characters get the same shrift they received in the source (see my erroneous early boostering of Martindale, who isn't reduced as much as overshadowed by the choices of Letts and Wells here), but the overall tone and verve of the family dynamic remains in-tact. Criticisms of Wells' direction are misplaced: this is exactly the kind of film you want someone like Wells working on, as he knows how to get out of the way of actors trading barbs back and forth without trying to gum up the works with other distractions. And in a movie where every speaking part in the film is filled by a name actor, the showstopping overblown flavor of Letts' unhinged characters is well-served, especially by those best-treated by the film's skinnier skeleton. The biggest pleasant surprise here is Julia Roberts, who plays against type in what is really the co-lead and gives the film's best performance with her wild swerves into angry outbursts and cheerful Letts-ian vulgarity (Any mainstream audience that managed to stick it out til that last act gets treated to Pretty Woman completely upending her public image while screeching bon mots like "Eat your fucking catfish, you bitch!" at a dazed Streep). Roberts' perf like the play itself exists in a weird state of escalating tragic ironies and grandiosely miserable lives, its outwardly comic lines and situations masking the inescapable downbeat futility of everyone's lives. So, a perfect taste of Oklahoma. Anyone who thinks this film is over the top in its family dynamics should sit in on my next Christmas dinner before casting aspersions!

[knives]

There's not much more here to say then what Dom already. Everyone plays it as they should and just allow Letts' play to go where it has to. I wish Mattie Fae weren't so cut down as Martindale is absolutely amazing in the role playing the character in a way that is so very human compared with the slightly more artificially affected performances of the rest (here is where I admit to only reading the play previously so I have no clue if this is the norm). Also Streep's introduction into the funeral dinner is the best bit of acting she's done since Sophie's Choice.