When it was announced that Maps to the Stars was not going to get the preliminary distribution to make it into this year’s Oscar race, but that it was going to go for the Globes and other lesser awards, it seemed as though Julianne Moore’s shot at the prize was done. But Still Alice was waiting in the wings and now it looks like this is going to be Moore’s next Oscar nomination, at the very least.
Also getting notice is Kristen Stewart who has a better shot at a supporting nod for Still Alice than Clouds of Sils Maria, which might not get a release date in time for the Oscars.
Hitfix’s Gregory Ellwood writes:
Moore’s performance here is reminiscent of her breakthrough role in Todd Haynes’ “Safe” and her Oscar-nominated turn in Stephen Daldry’s “The Hours.” In each scene she peels a little bit more of Alice away as the emotional pain of the disease takes its toll. It is incredibly subtle work that has to have been painstakingly thought out. You only realize this, however, walking out of the theater. Moore won’t let you see her working behind the curtain.
Over at Screendaily:
As for Moore, this is one of her most complete, layered performances. Almost 20 years ago, she starred in filmmaker Todd Haynes’ Safe, a revelatory social parable-cum-psychological horror movie about a housewife seemingly allergic to the entire world. The more realistic Still Alice finds her again felled by an invisible malady — one just as frightening — and it’s interesting to note her ability in both films to elicit our sympathy so easily. Expertly modulating her facial expressions as Alice becomes more childlike as her disease advances, Moore externalises the character’s anger and fear, the sense that she can feel her mind going but can’t reverse the damage. But at the same time, it’s not an overly showy performance: There aren’t a lot of for-you-consideration grand dramatic scenes, a modesty that makes Alice’s slow descent all the more painful and human.
Most the reviews have not yet broken.
