* * *I thought this was a good movie with better-than-average acting. It's about a family that is threatened when an interloper tries to usurp the head-of-the-family role and fails.....but rather than the head of the family being a man, it's Annette Benning. If the film had been about a heterosexual family, and had some of the lesbian elements been reinterpreted as straight elements, it would have been a much more typical movie.
But that's what's interesting: this film is about a lesbian family. And that's enough to keep it from being cliche as it portrays -- in a very understated way -- tensions like those between lesbian partners, straight men/butch lesbians, straight men/femme lesbians. How often do you see THAT in a movie? I liked the way you Nic stomped down her analytical, controling, bossy path while the more sensitive Jules responded to what she encounters. That relationship is good writing.
I also think All Right is an interesting American film because as the viewer seeks a center of authority, that center becomes the kids. I felt ambivalent about Paul, who gives good advice to Laser and recognizes that Joni has grown up at the same time he is seducing Jules and undermining Nic; in fact, I half-felt sorry for him as an aging dilettante until I realized that his affair with Jules had hurt the kids. The kids' pain and anger gave me the moral center to judge (and ultimately forgive) Paul. In many ways, his is one of the more interesting characters. And his is the one that's left with the least closure in the film.
That's not to say the film doesn't seem a bit clunky at time. I thought I could reduce most scenes to a particular (and obvious) narrative or character purpose, and Moore was occasionally flat in her delivery. There were some nice editing flourishes, though, as when we had the departure to the second dinner nicely condensed. Overall, the film seemed more deliberate and controlled than rich in detail that might or might not be relevant to the main flow, detail that might have given us more uncontrolled depth. It felt more like Philadelphia than Brokeback Mountain to me.
But all the specificity about lesbianism aside, The Kids are All Right is about love and family, and that's enough for anyone to be able to enjoy this film. I loved the part where Nic finally tells Paul to piss off and find his own family rather than stealing hers; I could see myself in that role. As for the lesbian specificity of script, I enjoyed seeing a portrayal of the pressures a same-sex couple might face, done in its detail. This is the kind of insight that cinema can provide so abundantly. The film doesn't have the range or emotional depth of Techine at his best, but it's still a worthwhile watch.
And it made me wonder what other national cinema would be capable of producing a similar film.
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