The holiday season is typically a time for families to come together, to enjoy each other’s company and time spent together.
A time when the mere act of being in the presence of each other signifies the love shared by all. One does not usually hear an outspoken daughter command her acerbic mother at mealtime to “Eat the fish, F**ker!” This is the case, and family, in August: Osage County.
From the Weinstein Company and director John Wells (Company Men) comes the story of one divided nuclear family, the Westons, reuniting after one devastating event, bringing them all back to their old childhood Midwestern home along with all of the bad blood stirred while living under the roof of the harsh matriarch of the family. As adapted from the stage, from Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and five-time Tony Award-winning play (2008), the film runs rampant as a rich, dense, family drama, comprised of equally rich and dense dialogue of scenes shared between veteran, experienced actors.
As the pill addicted, volatile mother Violet Weston, Meryl Streep makes (yet another) incredible turn with one of her most evocative performances yet, an accolade and claim any movie reviewer would not make lightly. Streep as Violet drives the movie, like a high-performance car, shifting gears with the most subtle and refined moves and touches to the most manic and crazed, all maneuvered with the skill, intuition, and control of a seasoned professional who knows her track. Violet, in one minute ethereal and dazed from her cocktail of pills, turns on a dime to become a scathing and acid-tongued mother of three and sighing husband Beverly (Sam Shepard).
As a feature length film, the story is all in the chemistry of the acting.
With Violet as the hurricane of the family’s epicenter, it’s no stretch to see the rest of the characters so incredibly “screwed up” with such driving and believable conviction. Commanding the Weston troops is the eldest daughter, hard-nosed and dominating Barbara (Julia Roberts), whose frustrations with dealing with her mother extend to that of dealing with her failing marriage to husband Bill (Ewan McGregor). As a dense, dialogue-driven family drama of a film, whose DNA comes from the savvy stage play, it hangs its hat on its veteran actors and performances. From Streep and Roberts, their impassioned acting packages the whole film and sets the series of events on a rightful due course. Roberts returns to the screen at the top of her game. Accompanying the mother-daughter combo is a star-studded cast of impressive talent. Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Dermot Mulroney fill out the cast, delivering dutiful performances that add good measure.
As a feature-length film, the story is all in the chemistry of the acting. There is a recognizable effort on director Wells Part to gently nurture and bring the rich stage play to life with an exciting film sense, a hearty challenge to be done. For all of its might, however, if you don’t find yourself lauding over the actor-driven framework, there might not be much else for you to sink your teeth into.
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (2014)
Starring Meryl Streep, Dermot Mulroney, Julia Roberts
Directed by John Wells
Written by Tracy Letts
Distributed by The Weinstein Company. 121 minutes.
