Many films have depicted disfunctional families, some funny like Meet The Parents and The Family Stone. August: Osage County is the opposite.
It’s based on the Pulitzer-winning play of the same name, written by Tracy Letts. It features an ensemble cast leaded by Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.
The name August: Osage County explains where the events take place, the month and a county in rural Oklahoma.
The film is about a family reunion when the patriarch Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard) goes missing. His volatile wife, Violet (Streep), calls her three daughters; the meanest and eldest Barbara (Roberts), the crazy Karen (Juliette Lewis) and the single Ivy (Juliane Nicholson).
Just by saying Meryl Streep you can expect to enjoy the movie. As expected, she got an Oscar nomination, Julia Roberts outdid herself as well. Streep is like a chameleon, she’s featured much older than she is; her acting makes the make up believable. At first one might think she’s got enough accolades and should leave some room to someone else, but she’s the best actress of modern times and this performance deserves it.
All the female characters are the strongest, the ones who wear the pants in the family. This is not necessarily a good thing, since their flaws make them anti-heroins; nevertheless, they’re complex human beings. Women sustain the movie, men just react to their behavior.
As events unravel, the family’s dirty laundry gets aired. Other actors include Ewan McGregor, Abigail Breslin, Chris Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Margo Martindale and Misty Upham. The original writter adapted it to a screenplay, its directed by John Wells and produced by George Clooney, Jean Doumanian, Grant Heslov, Steve Traxler, and Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
The film is pure action from beginning to end, there’s not even time to think about being bored. It will deliver tears and laughter. There’s action in the sense of pace, not guns blazing. It’s a domino effect about how one thing affects the other. The ending is unpredictable, it resolves some issues but leaves others kind of hanging, it’s a weird but effective combination. August: Osage County is a 5/5. After watching it you’ll be thankful for your own family issues.
Vivian Russo
Film critic from my point of view 