Act of Genius

I loved High Art and Laurel Canyon. I eagerly anticipated The Kids Are All Right. It is an incredible movie, a masterpiece. I would declare it a classic film, but that sort of recognition takes time to earn so check back in a year or so, after I’ve seen it a few more times, to see whether it is a classic or just one of the greatest films in recent memory. The fact is though, Lisa Cholodenko is a great director. She is as talented and original as François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer, and Woody Allen. She deserves to be mentioned with those masters. I suspect in time that will not sound so outlandish. Her films have real characters in compelling situations that illuminate aspects of the human condition that are universal.

This film is not only original, and funny, it features three of the greatest actors of our time, Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. All three are superb. This movie had some of the best film acting that I’ve seen in a long time.

I’m a film buff but I rarely write or blog about it. This film was so extraordinary that my love of art compelled me to comment.

Now, whenever you get greats together in an endeavor, inevitably you have to judge who is best. It's like the World Series. I know art is not a competition. The roles as written generally dictate a performance. Still, it’s human nature. Just like Marlon Brando, without doubt was the greatest actor in the crew of The Godfather—remember, he was alongside Caan, Duvall, Pacino and Keaton—the winner here, Annette Bening. Her performance as this middle aged lesbian mother is some of finest acting ever committed to film!

Here is why I am so enthusiastic. Now, I suppose contemporary net-etiquette requires me to say spoiler alert. I feel retarded doing so. Plus, this film has gotten so much publicity you already know the story and I’m not revealing any plot. Besides, it’s about character, not plot.

Anyway, Annette Bening is Luke Skywalker’s father. Okay, only kidding. Spock isn’t really dead.

Okay, okay, I couldn’t resist. So, as you know, Moore and Bening a lesbian couple, both of whom are moms and Ruffallo was the sperm donor. The children are older teenagers, the oldest going off to college, and they contact the donor. Moore and Ruffallo have some trysts. Bening, the more responsible of the two, is a physician. She distrusts Ruffallo, who is kind of a hippie at first. But the kids and Moore like her. So in spite of her misgivings and an argument she has with him, she decides to make peace. Now, remember, Ruffallo is having an affair with her partner and she doesn’t know it.

So, there is a dinner with the two women and the kids. Bening gushes over the meal he prepared. We’ve all been there, where we have to make friends with somebody we don’t like and maybe even mistrust and you do things like overly compliment them. The other element in this scene is that Bening and the kids are ignorant of the sexual deception going on. The lesbian vs. heterosexual thing comes to play slightly several scenes later, but seriously, the gay aspect is remarkably incidental to the storyline.

After gushing over the steak, she makes somewhat uncomfortable conversation about his record collection. It’s typical 70s stuff (a lot like mine, then and now!) and she can’t believe a straight guy likes Joni Mitchell. They bond over Blue and then she starts singing a song from Blue. Now, the kids are uncomfortable because you know, it’s their parents and they’re old. But we’re comfortable too, because we see Bening making herself vulnerable because she believes she is with people she trusts. It’s a famous song, and one I love (but I can’t seem to recall the exact title this second) and Bening sings it like an amateur, even when she does the famous falsetto high note Joni sings. Ruffalo sings along with some of it. The others at the table giggle. But Bening is sincere. She is having a moment, because she is remembering listening to this record, a touchstone for a woman her age. But she sings it believable as a doctor, a regular person. You know, most of the time, when a character sings in a movie—not in a musical or a musician bio-film—it’s like I love Lucy. You know how she is the unprofessional and always wants to perform with the other unprofessional, Fred & Ethel, but when they do sing it is all slick and professionals (and of course, nauseating). This is not like that. She sings this as a real person. You are in the moment entirely, feeling for her putting herself on the line, knowing what she doesn’t, that her partner of twenty years is having sex with somebody else and that somebody else is the person you are making an effort to befriend—and part of that effort, is sharing something very personal. She named her daughter Joni.

Bening excuses herself to go to the bathroom. She is the one who suggested the dinner. She seems satisfied that she accomplished what she wanted. They’re friends now, she thinks.

In the bathroom, she notices some hair in the drain (a subtle reference to Backstreets, another Joni Mitchell song). The same hair is the brush. Moore has long red hair in this film. Earlier in the movie there is a line of dialog about her hair. Bening goes into the bedroom, she finds more hair on the pillow.

She goes back to the table. You see the hurt of the realization, you see her processing it, and you also see her suppressing it. She can’t reveal all this in front of the kids. She has to wait to confront her partner before she mentions it to anyone else. The rest of the movie, the third act if you will, is about that confrontation and the fall out from the trysts. For now, all we see is Bening, acting with slivers of expression, a squint as she sits down at the table and picks up her wine glass. The way she handles the glass, sips the wine. Every fraction of movement of her face and body is deliberate, planned and absoluely believable. This sequence of scenes is remarkable. She is gushing with forced ebullience, then silent with the realization that the person closest to her is playing her for a fool. She has to keep up that silence until they’re home. I saw the film yesterday and it’s been all I’ve thought about, well just about. I’ll never forget it.

When you witness something like this, you are witnessing the craft of acting at its highest level.

She’s always good, Bening. Being Julia, the Grifters, even American Beauty, a weak film but she is remarkable in that too. But this The Kids Are All Right has some of the best acting you will see in a film this year. Bening pushes her talent into a realm that can only be described as sheer genius. To watch her act under Cholodenko's direction is an awe-inspiring thrill.