Genre Guesstimation – Away From Her (2006)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by Prime Six.  He has chosen another unique genre for this coming month.  We will be reviewing our favorite Realistic Films.

Here’s his interpretation of the genre:

We all put reviews in for films we think are realistic, for example Gravity has real physics behind it and Saving Private Ryan is a realistic depiction of war.

To be clear, not ‘real’, not a true story or documentary. What comes to mind when you think of the most realistic film you’ve ever seen? So Fast and Furious and Comic book films are all (mostly?) out.

It’s a weird topic, not even a genre, more of an opinion but I think it could be interesting.

A few examples just so we can have a good idea and get the ball rolling

David Ayer crime stuff

Nolan Batman

Bourne

Watchmen could have an argument

Whiplash

Rambo 1 / First Blood perhaps

Easy A

12 Angry Men 

Prisoners

There’s a huge range of genre’s covered by this topic, clearly. It could be interesting to see what people define as ‘realistic’ in Hollywood – they’re not right or wrong because it’s opinion based. 

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Sep by sending them to realistic@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice Prime Six!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Realistic Movies…

“I think I may be beginning to disappear. ” – Fiona

Number of Times Seen – 1 (13 Sep 2016)

Brief Synopsis – The story of a married couple who must learn to deal with the wife’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease.

My Take on it – I have been a fan of Sarah Polley’s work for years both as an actess and as a director.

This is a film I heard about years ago and just never got around to seeing until now.

I had heard that the depictions in this movie are so real, so I decided that it was the perfect way to begin this month’s Genre Guesstimation.

I was completely blown away by the way this movie was so emotional and realistic in the way it shows how a couple deals with the inevitable institutionalization of one of them.

Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent are perfect together and it is so simple to really believe that they have been together for over forty years.

On a personal note, my maternal grandmother suffered from this horrible disease and it was always even more heartbreaking watching my grandfather visit her in the nursing home each and every day, sit with her, feed her, care for her all the while knowing that she would never recognize him or even remember the 50+ years they had together.

This movie rekindled those emotions and I can’t say it was easy to watch because it felt so real.

This was Polley’s directorial debut and she does an amazing job with it; I wish she would make even more films because she is so great at choosing complex and emotional subjects that are so easy for us to become absorbed in the characters.

I have not yet seen Marion Cotillard’s performance in La Vie en Rose (2007) (yes, it’s on my list, but the language thing scares me a bit) , but it’s hard to imagine someone doing a better job than Christie did here and despite winning the Golden Globe and SAG Best Actress awards for this role, she lost the Oscar to Cotillard.

Bottom Line – Very emotional and realistic view of dealing with having to institutionalize a loved one. The performances are superb and you really believe that Christie and Pinsent were together for over forty years. Polley is an amazing director and knows how to choose complex and emotional projects for us to get completely absorbed into.  I’m shocked that Christie lost the Oscar to Cotillard that year. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Julie Christie turned the script down the first time it was sent to her. She would do this several times over the course of a year until Sarah Polley’s determination wore her down. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Most definitely. This movie overflows with realism and is extremely heartbreaking due to it. Christie and Pinsent are both superb and believable together.

Rating –  Oscar Worthy

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