See it at the Movies

STILL ALICE

with Joyce & Don Fowler
Posted 2/25/15

* * *

(Personal look at early onset Alzheimer’s)

While Julianne Moore’s portrayal of a 50-year-old brilliant college professor who develops early onset Alzheimer’s disease is quite …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in
See it at the Movies

STILL ALICE

Posted

* * *

(Personal look at early onset Alzheimer’s)

While Julianne Moore’s portrayal of a 50-year-old brilliant college professor who develops early onset Alzheimer’s disease is quite powerful, we both felt a lack of emotion in the other characters and a sort of matter-of-fact approach to a tragic situation from the writers and director.

We watch Alice as she loses her place giving a lecture, becomes forgetful and gets lost on her ritual run through her familiar Columbia campus.

Alec Baldwin plays her husband John, who seems more concerned about his career than Alice’s sudden decline. He even tries to convince her to pick up and move far away from her family, when what she needs is to hold on to the things she remembers.

All this plays out in a rather apathetic manner, with the exception of Alice’s one “problem child” (Kristen Stewart), who in spite of her differences with her mother is the most sensitive to her needs.

Alice goes through the memory tests that many senior citizens have been exposed to. (I participated in a study at Brown and it was almost word for word).

Alice admittedly has her good and bad days. Watching her expressions close up is at times difficult, as you feel for this young person (yes, 50 is young) who faces this dreaded disease.

Rated PG-13 with mild profanity.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here