By Brenda Daniels
Three films, already out on DVD, all reflect an interest in words.
In the first of the three that I watched recently, Academy Award winner, Julianne Moore plays Alice, a character who experiences the devastation of Alzheimer’s disease. Diagnosed at the early age of 50, Alice’s deterioration is scarily swift. From momentarily forgetting words to not recognising landmarks, Alice quickly begins to suffer the ignominy of not being able to find the bathroom and of greeting her own daughter like a stranger. Still Alice delivers its message all the more poignantly by casting its lead character in the role of a linguistics professor who has written a book about communication. When elaborating on his diagnosis Alice’s doctor tells her that symptoms of this strange illness can be even more rapid in the highly educated. Very sobering indeed.
Julianne Moore and Kristen Stewart are mother and daughter in Still Alice, a film about how Alice deals with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Photo source: http://www.vwmin.org/still-alice-by-lisa-genova-9781501107733-paperback.html
Not nearly as believable or worth watching is Stuck in Love, starring Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins and Nat Wolff. In this film a father and his two children are all writers. Each of them writes (or experiences writer’s block) in response to their love or antipathy for the wife and mother (Jennifer Connelly) who “deserted” them some years before. Positing love as the artist’s muse is not a new idea by any means. But in Stuck in Love the portrayal is a bit ridiculous and makes a mockery of the hard work, as opposed to sentiment, that “inspires” writers.
In a way it is hard work that does inspire writing in The Rewrite. In this movie Hugh Grant plays scriptwriter, Keith Michaels, who simply can’t come up with a sequel to his first successful script. He is shipped off to the other side of the country to take up a job as a writer-in-residence at a small university. Here his lackadaisical attitude quickly gets him into trouble. It takes the writing output of his own students to help Keith turn his life around. Their scripts help him realise that, contrary to his initial thoughts, writing can be taught (not just caught) and their positive response to his teaching proves to be the catalyst for his next script.
In Still Alice and The Rewrite there is clear character development. In The Rewrite Keith realises his own and others’ value through his recapturing of the written word. In Still Alice, Alice remains, to herself and her family, still Alice despite her sad loss of words.
- alec baldwin
- alzheimer's disease
- alzheimers
- early onset alzheimer's disease
- fiction
- greg kinnear
- hugh grant
- in love
- jennifer connelly
- jk simmons
- josh boone
- julianne moore
- kate bosworth
- kristen stewart
- lily collins
- marc lawrence
- marisa tomei
- movie about words
- nat wolff
- novel
- richard glatzer
- still alice
- stuck in love
- the rewrite
- wash westmoreland
- words
- writer's block
a feast of tales 