Still Alice 4K 2014 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Alice Howland is a well-known professor of linguistics. She is happily married and has three grown children. But everything changes when one day she begins to forget words.

Review 4K Movie

The film is not perfect. I lacked aesthetics in terms of directing and camerawork. Sometimes I even felt like I was watching a TV movie. To the untrained eye, you can see that this film was not directed by Emmanuel Lubecki, Wally Pfister, or Janusz Kaminski. Any one of the aforementioned camera geniuses could have contributed that last drop of creativity to this story, which was not enough for me to call this film an unqualified masterpiece. The script is a little saggy, it lacks emotional intensity in some places, everything goes too evenly.

But all my complaints refer only to the first half of the movie. Then a wonderful metamorphosis took place and with each new scene the emotional power grew and grew, until the end, like an avalanche, overtook me. Naturally, such flaws as poor camerawork didn't disappear, but all of a sudden I gradually stopped noticing them, and what had annoyed and even impeded me from perceiving the story in the beginning became unimportant toward the end.

And all thanks to the fact that in the course of the hour and a half you gradually turn from an outside observer into a part of the story. These people, for some reason, you become not indifferent. You empathize with them, and not just for the main character who loses a part of herself with every second, but for her whole family. It's a great achievement, and it was made possible largely thanks to the wonderful actors.

Now the awards season is in full swing and many critics believe that it should be Julianne Moore who wins all the major awards in the Best Actress category for her role in this film. You know, I've never been a fan of this actress and have yet to see her main competitors in action, so maybe in the end Alice Howland will not be the best female role of this year for me, but she will definitely remain one of the best. Moore really got into character. I particularly remember a few scenes: her speech at the alzheimer's meeting, the way she sat with her newborn granddaughter in her arms. There were many other strong scenes, but most of all I was struck by the ending: unexpected, abrupt, sad, but so surprisingly light that a lump could involuntarily come up to my throat.

I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't one-actor theater, as is often the case with films like this. Moore certainly shines brightest here, but I also really liked the play of Alick Baldwin. He perfectly conveyed the pain a man feels when he sees his own soul fading away, but can't do anything about it. He is so painful to watch that he wants to run away, move, buried with his head in the work, just to get away from the unbearable hell of reality, in which you can not fix anything. The scene in the cafe is ice cream, one of the most touching and sad moments of the entire story. I also loved the acting of the main character's daughters. Especially Kristen Stewart. I can't believe I'm saying this myself, but maybe she's not as hopeless, in terms of acting ability, as I thought she was.

Perhaps it's time to summarize: the film is not perfect and it could have been made even better, prettier, more emotional, but even in its imperfect form it makes a very strong impression.