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You may need to sit down before reading this. The remote rural area of Herefordshire is flooded – not, as you might expect, as the result of a Wye in full spate. Something far more improbable. This is the time of year when the banks of culture overflow and we are inundated with good films.
The first one we saw of this year’s selection was August: Osage County. It did show some signs of its origins as a stage play. The action is basically confined to the family home and its environs. Mostly though this contributed to a feeling of claustrophobia. There was a slight tinge of melodrama and the plot twists piled on the agony to depict the mind-boggling dysfunction of the family at the heart of it all. I won’t share the details – I don’t want to spoil any surprises.
In the context of the family’s fulminating bitterness and disappointment, the one moment of tenderness was truly moving: Benedict Cumberbatch as Little Charles plays his love song to Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) and you know what’s coming, as they’re sure to be seen. And sure enough, his mother bursts through the door and blasts him with her acid tongue. His face crumples into an expression of heart-rending defeat.
The acting throughout is brilliant and I have never seen Julia Roberts so accomplished and convincing.
Basically, the dark humour pulled the melodrama and any sentimentality back from the brink. We had scary relationships shown full blast, showing just how pathology can be handed down through the generations, with just that one moment of genuine but very fragile tenderness.
In short, it’s well worth seeing, and if anyone in the area is reading this who didn’t know about the Borderlines Film Festival, there is still just time to get on board before it ends.
This is a copy of their flier for this film.
Everybody Means Something 