Review of Still Alice (2014) by Indi V — 04 Aug 2015

It's an excellent film and Julianne Moore definitely deserved her Oscar.

Moore plays a woman who develops Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease. She plays the part perfectly. Every symptom, the deterioration of one's memories, all done to perfection. The film's depiction of the disease is incredibly realistic. Moore's performance never plays up the symptoms or takes them to the extreme.

This is Moore's film, but she's not the only one who shines here. Alec Baldwin is very good as her husband. He gets a few tender and heartbreaking moments and plays them perfectly. The other big standout is... Kristen Stewart. Stewart plays one of Moore's daughters (Baldwin and Moore have three kids in this film) and honestly gets a very interesting role. Since Stewart's playing a struggling actress, it's interesting to see one person whose entire job is memorizing something interact with someone who is incapable of forming memories.

Overall, this is a very solid drama. Moore deserves every accolade she got for this film, but Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart also deserve a little love for this. If you know anyone who's had Alzheimer's, this is a pretty good film to check out.