SAVAGE GRACE
RYAN: The new Julianne Moore movie, “Savage Grace,” which we got to see at the Tribeca Film Festival, is out this Friday. It’s based on a true story, and I found it awkward, strange, a bit confusing and ultimately disturbing.
CAROLINE: It’s very disturbing, though unfortunately we can’t tell you why without ruining the ending. But if you know the story of the Baekeland family, you know how it turns out.
RYAN: It’s not disturbing like a horror movie, because only the ending is creepy. Three-quarters of the movie is funny and kinda weird and just a regular movie. Then it gets really messed up.
CAROLINE: I liked the movie better as it went along; I found the beginning a little slow. Then when it gets juicy, it gets really juicy and profoundly disturbing. Have we mentioned how disturbing it is?
RYAN: I actually liked the beginning better. The first third of the film was my favorite. It starts out in the 1940s and I loved the hair, the costumes and the sets. Everything looks very authentic and beautiful. It takes you back to the time when Judy Garland was a young star.
CAROLINE: The movie is pretty odd though, as is the dude who plays the son as an adult. There’s something creepy about his mouth and I find him not so attractive. But I loved how the family started spending a lot of time in Europe as the son grew up, because there is some gorgeous European scenery.
RYAN: Speaking of gorgeous, the movie features Hugh Dancy, who was Prince Char in “Ella Enchanted” starring Anne Hathaway. He’s very hot and he plays gay in this movie, or bi. I love it when movies throw a bone to the gays.
CAROLINE: So to speak. Julianne Moore has the lead role, and she’s always so good though I feel like she’s done a lot of movies about bizarre, screwed up families. She looks fabulous, but she’s supposed to age about twenty years over the course of the film and the only thing they did to make her look different was change her hair color.
RYAN: She goes from auburn to brown to red to strawberry blond. It’s odd. But her body looks great. And her character makes some very difficult emotional choices, so she had to do some tough acting. I really liked her in this. BTW her part was a role that Charles Busch was born to play.
CAROLINE: [laughs’ Totally! Someday he’ll remake the movie in drag. Bottom line?
RYAN: It’s a short movie at about ninety minutes and though it’s quite disturbing, I enjoyed it.
CAROLINE: This is definitely a film for the artsy crowd. If you like Julianne Moore, you’ll like it, but don’t be expecting an uplifting movie in any way. It’s horrible depressing.