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August: Osage County
| Released |
24 January 2014 |
| Director |
John Wells |
Starring
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Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Margo Martindale, Sam Shepard, Dermot Mulrooney, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch |
| Writer(s) |
Tracy Letts |
Producer(s)
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George Clooney, Jean Doumanian, Grant Heslov, Steve Traxler |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
130 minutes |
| Genre |
Drama |
| Rating |
15A |
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Summertime sadness.
August: Osage County plays out in the sweltering heat of the Oklahoma plains. Inside the Weston family home, the heat is stifling - windows are closed, curtains drawn and characters frequently make reference to the oppressive atmosphere in the house. The film itself feels similarly oppressive. Based on a play by Tracey Letts (writer of Bug and Killer Joe, both of which have been adapted on the screen by William Friendkin), August: Osage County is weighed down by the sheer quantity of dialogue and the excess of ACTING (writ large) from its ensemble cast.
The film documents a family reunion of sorts. Following a tragedy, the three daughters of the Weston clan, along with their attendant partners, descend upon the family home. Julia Roberts plays eldest daughter Barb, Julianne Nicholson is middle child Ivy and the youngest, Karen is played by Juliette Lewis. Over the course of a couple of days, secrets are revealed and the family begins to fall apart as their drug-addicted mother Violet (Meryl Streep) lets loose with some harsh home truths.
Publicity for the film has focused on the showdown between Streep and Roberts but the wider cast is full of equally impressive names - Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard and man of the moment Benedict Cumberbatch to name a few. There are no weak links here. Lewis in particular is on fine form, while Roberts gives an uncharacteristically savage performance. The quality of the cast is definitely the main draw of the film but conversely, is also its downfall.
Letts’ adaptation of his own work still maintains the rhythms of the stage and neglects that great tenet of the cinema; Show, don’t tell. As a result, the constant stream of stagey dialogue from the large cast soon becomes exhausting, as they battle against each other for screentime. The original play was a pitch black comedy but the cast never really hit that tone successfully. Instead, as it’s revealed that every family member has a skeleton in the closet, I began to feel like I was watching an upmarket version of Jerry Springer: The Opera.
Perhaps a stronger directorial hand than John Wells’, with a greater grasp of the ridiculous, could have drawn more black art from the material but as it is, August: Osage County is merely an impeccably performed disappointment.
Linda O’Brien |
