Jan 3, 2014

ON GORGON POND.


     August: Osage County is a good imitation of an American family drama. Written by Tracy Letts (based upon his play) and directed by John Wells, it concerns Violet, a drug-addicted monster of a mother and   her family of minatory women and milquetoast men. Bring them all together at a funeral, stir well and cook until half-baked.

     Meryl Streep is wonderful as Violet, a woman whose character is lacking - but her character is lacking. This drug-addicted mother has no tragic dimension, she’s just a pill. Less Mary Tyrone, the “mad ghost” of
O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night and more Neill, the ghost of an alcoholic dog in Topper. She has three children (more or less), a sister, who defines competitive and a grand-daughter, who’s thirteen going on thirty. Assorted - and - sordid husbands, sons and lovers complete the picture. They are watched over with loving grace by Johnna, a Cheyenne servant with reservations about all of them.

The story doesn’t matter - but the stories in this kind of drama never matter. They are only excuses for tearing open old wounds and exposing them to the healing light of truth. The closest this movie gets is when Julia Roberts tries to inflict a new wound on Meryl Streep. The rest is pretty superficial. Speaking of pretty and superficial, there’s some nice scenery. 

August: Osage County lacks the poetry of Tennessee Williams, the bile of Lillian Hellman and the blood of Eugene O’Neill. Doubly a shame because there’s a lot of good acting going on. Watch out for that Meryl 
Streep. She’s going to have a great career.

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