August: Osage County (2013), A Beautiful Ensemble Film. Movie Review

There’s Meryl Streep, the matriarch Violet, and Sam Shepherd, the patriarch Beverly, who chooses to disappear. Family starts pouring in.

There’s Misty Upham, the American Indian live-in maid, who’s eventually drawn into the family drama.

There’s Margo Martindale, as Mattie Fae, Violet’s sister, who has a son, Little Charlie (Benedict Cumberbatch), named after Mattie Fae’s husband Charlie (Chris Cooper, who gives an excellent performance, even though he has less screen time).

Then come Violet’s girls: Barbara (Julia Roberts), married to Bill (Ewan McGregor), Karen (Juliette Lewis), engaged to Steve (Dermot Mulroney, who’s very good in his role of crook and generally ignoble person), and Ivy (Julianne Nicholson, whom I admired immensely for her acting; I really want to see more of this actress), who’s secretly in love with someone.

Barbara and Bill have a daughter, fourteen-year-old Jean (Abigail Breslin).

As always in such ensemble films, secrets come to the light when the family members are gathered together, and drama brews until there’s some change to the family setup. It’s all very theatrical in concept and yet the way the camera moves around the interiors gives this drama the strong feel of cinema. I love that sideboard that keeps cropping up in a conversation over the funeral dinner, and the presence of the old house that witnesses it all, with that wonderfully-lit annex where more secrets are revealed.

I say watch this film to see an Abigail Breslin that’s quickly growing up; an absolutely wonderful Julianne Nicholson; Dermot Mulroney, whom I loved in Griffin & Phoenix (2006) and who does an excellent portrayal of a quite different character here; and, of course, Meryl Streep, who somehow proves with each film that, perhaps, she really is the greatest American actress alive. (Uma Thurman is another one of my top favorite American actresses. I'm surprised to see she has only 1 Oscar nomination, for Pulp Fiction. Another favorite of mine is Hilary Swank, who has won 2 Oscars for her magnificent performances in Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby). P.S. Oh, I forgot Cate Blanchett! Don't want to do that. She's a fabulous actress, and so versatile! Charlize Theron is also amazing. Her performance in Monster was simply mindblowing. And the list goes on.

3 Oscars and 18 nominations. See the list of movies.