Oscar Season: August: Osage County

This past week, I began the formidable task of scrambling to catch up on the 10 Best-Picture Academy Award Nominees for 2013-14.  I’m a little behind this year, so I've got my work cut out for me.

The first feature I watched was August:Osage County.  I watched the film on a SAG screener while doing incredibly mind-numbing temp work.  Though not an ideal viewing format, I could still appreciate why this film was nominated.

There were two things that stood out to me most.  One, was that I could feel the heat of Osage County radiating from my computer screen.  The cinematography, the music, perhaps even the filter of the lens brought me right into that dust bowl of misery. 

Even more than that, the acting hit all the right spots.  Meryl Streep, as the pill- and disease-addled matriarch, Violet Weston, bears the scars and disease of a lifetime of anguish, often taking it out on her family.  Her daughters, played by Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, and Juliette Lewis, struggle to cope with her degeneration, while at the same time dealing with the demons in their own personal lives and relationships.  Each character, lead and supporting, is deeply complex and the threads of dysfunction are sewn deeply into the fabric of this family. 

The film, which was originally a play by Tracy Letts begs the question, can the fruit of a poison tree ever learn to be sweet, or are we damned to pass on the pain we have endured from those who came before us?

It’s not a happy one, but very few Oscar nominees are.  And, though the subject matter is painful, there is humor throughout.  A good drama will always allow for the funny, just like in life.  I know that at my grandmother’s funeral a few months ago, I cried of course, but I laughed almost as much.  That is the beauty of being human.