A look at the lives of the
strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a
family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to
the dysfunctional woman who raised them.
Without
much introduction this try-out to reach many Oscars nominations at the 2014
Ceremony, the movie earned a leading nomination for Meryl Streep and a supporting one for Julia Roberts, reminded me of a sad recognition of Ingmar Bergman’s
Cries and Whispers. The later film, a
masterpiece, would forever shadow August :
Osage County except for the strong performances from its actresses and
actors. With Juliette Lewis, Juliana Nicholson, Ewan McGregor, Abigail
Breslin, Dermott Mulroney, Sam Shepard, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris
Cooper, Misty Upham, and Margo Martindale at least we have
performances from those A-list actors that deserves the mention of a nice
ensemble cast. Too bad, the story isn’t that much well told and the film
suffers from the lack of empathy we can feel for any character in this tragic
story.
Apart
from the sheer confrontation of the many characters between each other and
their abusive relationships, this family film is far from the feelgood movie
genre. I don’t, however, want a film to be happy or hopeful, but I want a little
humanity in the characters I invest time in. In fact, the dysfunctional family
pictured reminded me of my own family on my mother’s side. Still, a family that
dysfunctional as the Weston is only fictional because this kind of confrontation,
abusive, and unhappy family would have been completely apart and they would not
have had such a long history. People get sick of situations such as those and
children don’t suffer long at the time they come to adulthood and just left
those behind.
Well,
after all the drama is done and all the damage we are left with a sour taste of
a sad family that you never want to revisit again especially if they are your
in laws. It demonstrates how the film is okay to watch for the aforementioned
performances, but other than that, it is not something you want to own and
showcase on the altar of your collection of movies.
Too bad because as the original play was highly acclaimed, the feature film never meet expectations and fell a bit offshore. Worth a look but nothing to write to your mother about.
Too bad because as the original play was highly acclaimed, the feature film never meet expectations and fell a bit offshore. Worth a look but nothing to write to your mother about.
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