Still Alice - Cinema Review

Still Alice is the best horror film i have ever seen. Does it have jump-scares, gore, monsters and suspenseful music? No, it has none of those things. I feel it's best described as horror because of its brutal accuracy. It's horrifyingly eye-opening and unsettling in its relatability. My recommendation for this film is very strange because i can't say you will leave the cinema feeling uplifted, entertained, hopeful or even satisfied and yet i would urge almost anyone to go and see this film, if only to be informed.

Now even as i think about typing the words "spreading awareness" i'm reminded of the constant barrage of charities we have thrown at us everyday, and whilst worthy causes, through sheer frequency and persistence we grow numb and complacent towards them. With that in mind i'm adding a slight anecdote of my experience in the cinema and perhaps the worst thing i've had to witness in a cinema ever (Even worse than Transformers 2).

If you have no intention of seeing, have already seen the film or for some other reason don't care about spoilers click here to see the specific scene described in detail. Otherwise it was a climax of a story thread that was planted early on and had been building up to. Alice's disease causes her to say something about the scene that she definitely would not have were she not afflicted with Alzheimers. The lowpoint of my cinema going experience was not actually from the film itself but rather the fact that the audience i was amongst laughed at this scene...

Not just the few ignorant teenage shitheads you often get who never had interest in the movie to begin with, but a good eighty percent of the crowd, ranging from teens, young adults right up to grey-haired seniors. I hope that the laughter was somehow awkward or perhaps hysterical because otherwise i'm quite frankly disgusted and it would be damning evidence supporting the film's message of an overlooked and underestimated illness.

So, that slight rant aside, the film is exceptionally good. Julianne Moore is heartbreakingly phenomenal in her performance. The film swiftly and effectively builds up this character of a successful, intelligent and compassionate woman and then we see her slip away piece by piece along with her own realisation and understanding of what's happening to herself and its truly tragic and deeply uncomfortable. The rest of the cast are solid as well with moments of greatness from the likes of Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart playing the struggling supportive husband and distant, turbulent but loving daughter respectively.

I haven't read Lisa Genova's novel on which the film is based so i'll commend both her and the writer-directors for the film's plot. The late Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. The directing being important along with the cinematography choices on how to display a primarily internal mental illness. There weren't a multitiude of different methods used for symbolising Alice's mental state which may have been a wise or unwise decision but the blurring, out of focus effect they choose and stick with is utilised to great effect.

Many of the film's most significant revelations happen when you least expect it, during everyday casual activities and i think this is perfect because it's another way Still Alice feels like real life. Not every film needs a setpiece for its "biggest" moments and a film that wields its uncanny realism so prominently makes total sense to have the film's events occur seemingly out of nowhere.

Much like Alzheimers in reality there is no happy ending here and the ending given may seem abrupt but i can't fault the film for that and much prefer it to a tacked-on or forced in unrealistic, magic solution.
The film reaches its climax and then fades away much like its protagonist. The story is very much from Alice's perspective and so it could be argued that a lot is missing or that the later scenes degenerate too quickly but then...maybe that's the point. Maybe we're supposed to feel like something is missing and incomplete. Perhaps that's the best way to encourage us to ruminate on the horrors and loss the film depicts.