A Summer In Osage County

August Osage County is a 2013 American black comedy film directed by John Wells and adapted by Tracy Letts from his own play which premiered in 2008. The film features an ensemble cast starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in leading roles. The film was nominated for two Oscars, Julia Roberts for Best Supporting Actress and Meryl Streep for Best Actress

The film follows a few weeks at the home of family matriarch Violet Weston as she attempts to deal with the disappearance and later death of her husband, whilst her family convenes at her home in Osage County Oklahoma. Over the course of the film the relationships between various family members are uncovered, analyzed and eventually destroyed.The film was adapted from Lett's Pulitzer winning 2008 play of the same name. Letts adapted the film from the play himself, and the film remains reasonably faithful to the plot of the source material.

I was more impressed with this film than i intended to be, i will admit that i went into this film with a largely preformed opinion, something i may not be proud of but oh well, i always try to be as open minded as possible going into these films but i had heard rather a lot about this movie before going in, and not much of it was good. But is has surprised by how thought provoking, subtle and interesting this film was. The film features some pretty fantastic performances, however the film can feel a little heavy handed at times, the sheer quantity of acting happening is so great that it occasionally reaches a crescendo for the audience to somehow come out unscathed.

Despite the power of the performances, the film suffers from a slight touch of overacting. This is most likely due to the inexperience of the director. This is only John Wells second picture, and working with such juggernauts is difficult and the director needs to learn how to tone down their performances. Meryl Streep gives a powerful performance as Violet Weston, the family's cruel and vindictive matriarch. She is very good in her performance, however she doses occasionally veer into Mommie Dearest territory, becoming so cruel and tyrannical that it becomes slightly comical, and on more than one occasion did i find myself bursting out with laughter, thankfully none was sat near me at the movie theater.

This films MVP is really Julie Roberts, she gives a stunning performance as a young woman who has become callous, bitter and jilted. Roberts surprises with her ability to be so nasty and cruel, and i give her huge credit for managing to maintain a sense of dignity and allowing her character not to become two dimensional or camp, in some ways she succeeds better that Meryl Streep, which is no mean feat, and her character is more real, has more gravitas, and is less two dimensional. After seeing this film, i feel that Julia Roberts is actually the most deserving of all the Best Supporting Actress nominees, she doesn't have a high hope in hell of winning, but she has by far the most screen time of all the nominees, and has almost as much screen time as Meryl Streep.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film, and i found it to be thought provoking and interesting, and it raised some interesting questions about family, relationships and taboos. The film questions why we stay in relationships with people that we have no real connection with, and in many cases whom we don't even like. The characters in this story are vile, and they seem to hate each other intensely, yet they keep coming back for more, and this film dares to question why, are they simply masochists, as one of my favorite Sex And The City episodes asked, do they truly love each other, or are they just addicted to the pain? Rating: B+

Barbara Weston: Eat the fucking fish! 
Violet Weston: I'm not hungry! 
Barbara Weston: Eat the fish, Bitch!