{"id":701,"date":"2008-03-17T21:22:58","date_gmt":"2008-03-18T01:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/17\/701\/"},"modified":"2022-10-27T11:45:34","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T15:45:34","slug":"away-from-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/away-from-her\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Polley’s Away From Her"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So far, it seems this movie blog is definitive proof of the truism that criticism is cheaper than praise; it’s easier to pick apart what’s wrong with a bad or mediocre movie than it is to praise what’s good. So sitting down to write something about a really great film like Away From Her<\/em>, I find myself at a loss for what to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already a seasoned actor at 29, Sarah Polley<\/a> proves herself a mature and sensitive writer\/director on her very first outing. Although concerned with Alzheimer’s, Away From Her<\/em> is thankfully not a movie “about” a disease. I felt the biopic Iris<\/em>, although finely acted by no less than Kate Winslet, Judi Dench, and Jim Broadbent, fell into the trap of educating the audience about a disease more than looking at the experiences of the real-life figures whose lives were surely defined by more than Iris Murdoch’s disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Julie
Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent in Away From Her.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fiona (Julie Christie) and long-time husband Grant (Gordon Pinsent) are already aware of her relatively early-onset Alzheimer’s as the movie begins, but react to its sudden progression with different degrees of preparedness. Worse, as her short term memory leaves her, memories of old traumas resurface just as it is time for her to enter an assisted living community, making an impossible situation no easier for either of them. The next time Grant sees her, she appears to have forgotten him altogether… or has she? The possibility that Grant may be reading his fears into Fiona’s behavior and lapses is one of the most powerful questions of the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sarah
Sarah Polley, writer\/director of Away From Her.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Polley reportedly talked Julie Christie out of semi-retirement, and she deserves an Oscar for her Canadian accent alone. Christie’s long resume and Oscar nomination put her in the entertainment media’s spotlight this winter, but Gordon Pinsent is excellent as Grant, arguably the lead role. Away From Her<\/em> may be a powerfully sad movie, but not one that anyone should be afraid of being bummed out by.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So far, it seems this movie blog is definitive proof of the truism that criticism is cheaper than praise; it’s easier to pick apart what’s wrong with a bad or mediocre movie than it is to praise what’s good. So sitting down to write something about a really great film like Away From Her, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,2],"tags":[1029,1028,1027,915],"class_list":["post-701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-4-stars","category-movies","tag-alzheimers","tag-gordon-pinsent","tag-julie-christie","tag-sarah-polley"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/away-from-her-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-bj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":877,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/sweet-hereafter\/","url_meta":{"origin":701,"position":0},"title":"The Pied Piper takes a generation away in Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Lest the brevity of this post indicate otherwise, The Sweet Hereafter is one of my favorite films. Although I've read the original novel by Russell Banks and seen Atom Egoyan's film several times, I feel ill-equipped to \"review\" it. It is quietly heartbreaking and devastating, and difficult to capture in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Sweet Hereafter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/sweet-hereafter-family.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/sweet-hereafter-family.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/sweet-hereafter-family.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/sweet-hereafter-family.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/sweet-hereafter-family.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":931,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-adventures-of-baron-munchausen\/","url_meta":{"origin":701,"position":1},"title":"Terry Gilliam throws the budget overboard in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Terry Gilliam's mad, brilliant yarn The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a strongly anti-war fable to which every kid (and adult!) ought to be exposed. Like the best of its kind (including Ratatouille and Gilliam's own Time Bandits), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen works on multiple levels and is accessible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/adventures-of-baron-munchausen-poster.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/adventures-of-baron-munchausen-poster.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/adventures-of-baron-munchausen-poster.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/adventures-of-baron-munchausen-poster.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/adventures-of-baron-munchausen-poster.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1389,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/incredibles\/","url_meta":{"origin":701,"position":2},"title":"Brad Bird Steals His Own Movie in Pixar’s The Incredibles","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Like writer\/director Brad Bird's Ratatouille, The Incredibles is a virtually perfect movie. Bird's astonishing one-two punch for Pixar builds on the animation studio's reputation for deep emotional resonance already earned by Andrew Stanton's Finding Nemo and later reconfirmed by Wall-E. But Bird's films add a welcome maturity that proves the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "5 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"5 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/5-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Incredibles","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/incredibles-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/incredibles-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/incredibles-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/incredibles-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/incredibles-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1817,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ive-loved-you-so-long\/","url_meta":{"origin":701,"position":3},"title":"Kristin Scott Thomas is unshowy but brilliant in Philippe Claudel’s I’ve Loved You So Long","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Writer \/ director Philippe Claudel's I've Loved You So Long is a textbook exercise in the dramatic withholding of narrative information. Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) is released from prison after serving 15 years for an unspecified crime, and is unwillingly housed with her sister L\u00e9a (Elsa Zylberstein). L\u00e9a is initially\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kristen Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/ive-loved-you-so-long-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/ive-loved-you-so-long-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/ive-loved-you-so-long-featured.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/ive-loved-you-so-long-featured.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/ive-loved-you-so-long-featured.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":861,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/sex-and-the-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":701,"position":4},"title":"Who do you think you are, Mr. Big? Sex and the City: The Movie","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Yep, I saw it. I work for the movie company that produced it, so I got to go for free. The standard line with Michael Patrick King's now decade-old Sex and the City franchise is that it has always appealed mostly to gay men and the women that love them.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sex and the City","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/sex-and-the-city-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/sex-and-the-city-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/sex-and-the-city-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/sex-and-the-city-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/sex-and-the-city-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5279,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-incredibles-2-2018-movie-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":701,"position":5},"title":"Brad Bird’s The Incredibles 2 traps superheroes in motels and courtrooms","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Brad Bird's The Incredibles 2 sure went down easy when I saw it in a theater a few months ago, but it suffers on rewatch on the small screen. And needless to say, it was shortly rendered wholly obsolete by the best animated superhero movie of all time, Spider-Man: Into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Incredibles 2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/incredibles-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/incredibles-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/incredibles-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/incredibles-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/incredibles-2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7978,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions\/7978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}