Happiest Season (2020)

When it comes to cinema releases, the beginning of December can only mean one thing: holiday movies. And this film does not disappoint. Treated once again to a private cinema screening of a film about which I knew next to nothing going in, I discovered this hidden gem of holiday movies, a film with an incredible balance of comedy and drama, sure to take its audience through a roller-coaster ride of emotions.

Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis) have been a couple for several months. Christmas is coming, and Harper wants Abby to come with her to meet her family.

However, Abby has no interest in celebrating Christmas, since losing her parents during the holidays ten years ago. But Harper is insistent; her family will make Christmas a time to celebrate for Abby again.

And so, leaving her many pets with best friend John (Daniel Levy), Abby agrees to Harper’s plan. Little does she know that Harper is still yet to come out to her parents, and Christmas doesn’t seem like a good time to do it, either.

Harper (Mackenzie Davis) and Abby (Kristen Stewart).

Harper’s father, Ted (Victor Garber), is about to begin his campaign for Mayor, and anything that would rock the boat at this point is most definitely to be avoided. Her mother, Tipper (Mary Steenburgen) is incredibly conservative, and news like this could potentially destroy her.

So, Harper and Abby must pretend to be nothing but “roommates”, making the next week virtually unbearable for Abby at least.

Harper seems to be fine with this charade; she has her two sisters Sloane (Alison Brie) and Jane (Mary Holland) as a buffer between her and her parents. And to top it all off, Tipper is trying to get Harper back together with her high-school boyfriend Connor (Jake McDorman).

I’ll leave the plot there, you can discover it for yourself; I don’t need to spoil it any more.

Ted (Victor Garber) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis).

The screenplay – by director Clea DuVall & Mary Holland (who, as you will recall, also plays Harper’s sister Jane) – is quite an achievement, balancing, as I mentioned earlier, comedy and drama exceptionally well. Yes, the film is primarily a comedy, and there are indeed plenty of laughs throughout. But the film also has some really good themes within it about being true to yourself, and about the coming-out process, which is anything but a cookie-cutter experience; it is different for each and every person who has had to go through it, and even different every time you do it.

Watching this film – and perhaps even more so due to Daniel Levy being in the cast – feels like watching the final season of Schitt’s Creek in a lot of ways, most of them good ways.

Yes, on the one hand, the film feels like many other holiday films; a fair amount of storyline comes from the events that surround this time of year, especially in North America. But the added tension of the strained relationship between Abby and Harper, as they both try to hide their true selves, gives the film an added dimension and unique truth that is missing from other films in this space.

And when you throw in another of Harper’s ex-partners, Riley (Aubrey Plaza), who has also struck up a friendship – or at least passing acquaintance – with Abby, you know the stage is set for some major drama at that point in the film that will inevitably come.

John (Daniel Levy) and Connor (Jake McDorman).

The performances of the cast are superb throughout, but I want to make particular mention of the two leads, Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis. Not only is their relationship incredibly believable, but the growing split between them as the film progresses is absolutely heart-breaking. Again, I don’t want to spoil the film for you, but you must have guessed there would be difficulties, given the difficult situation in which they both find themselves.

Another note on the cast: those of you who keep up with all the gossip out of Hollywood (not that this is what my reviews are about, mind you) will have noticed the unique position of this film in terms of its casting. Several members of the cast – if you don’t know which ones, I’m not going to out them, that’s not my place – are part of the LGBTQIA+ community, and no doubt took their roles because they believed the film had and has something unique to say to not only the LGBTQIA+ community, but to those outside the community by way of education and understanding.

However, it is – in my opinion – Daniel Levy, and more specifically, his character, that makes this film what it is. It is his character that has a lot of the best lines, and features in many of the film’s best scenes.

I would advise any interested party to see this film on the big screen, purely for the reason that it means you would see it sooner, rather than having to wait for a DVD release.

8 1/2 out of 10.

Still Alice (2014)

Based on the novel by Lisa Genova, this film follows the lives of a close-knit family pushed to near-breaking point by tragedy, and earned an Academy Award for lead actress, Julianne Moore.

Alice Howland (Moore) is a linguistics professor at Columbia University, and has enjoyed great academic success with her textbook 'From Neurons to Nouns', which has quickly become the most-used text by institutions worldwide.

When she starts to forget words and concepts in her lectures, and gets lost one day while jogging around campus, she makes an appointment with a neurologist, Dr. Benjamin (Stephen Kunken).

After a series of tests and scans, it emerges that Alice - who turns fifty at the beginning of the film - has a rare form of early-onset Alzheimers Disease which is genetically inherited.

Alice (Julianne Moore).

Distraught, she finally opens up to her family - eldest daughter Anna (Kate Bosworth), son Tom (Hunter Parrish) and youngest child Lydia (Kristen Stewart) - urging them to be tested, as the disease is genetic. Anna - who is trying to get pregnant via IVF with husband Charlie (Shane McRae) - turns out to have the affected gene. Tom doesn't have it, and Lydia - a struggling actor living in LA - chooses not to know.

Alice's deterioration increases by the day. Always by her side, her husband John (Alec Baldwin) is ever supportive. But it is daughter Lydia who seems to be the most affected by her mother's diagnosis, and the two of them grow closer than they have ever been before.

The screenplay, written by co-directors Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland - adapted from Genova's novel - is, in a word, brilliant. Every single character is filled with their own conflicts, both internal and external, and the reality of the story and drama experienced by the characters is intense and palpable. There are occasional moments of humour, but overall, the story is a tragedy, but one that shows the strength of familial bonds and love, and the power of the human spirit.

John (Alec Baldwin) and Alice (Julianne Moore).

The score has been masterfully composed by Ilan Eshkeri. The power of the score is twofold: there is a theme that plays at several points throughout the film (a relatively simple piano theme), and there are moments where the music is clearly reflecting the intense psychological ups-and-downs of Alice's personal struggle. The aforementioned piano theme changes ever so subtly over the course of the film, which also reflects the changes in the lives of all the characters, most strongly the changes and deterioration of Alice's faculties.

Denis Lenoir's cinematography is beautiful; it helps that the landscapes of the location shoots are incredibly photogenic. But his command of light and dark, and contrast thereof, is magnificent. There are several moments where the camera transitions to Alice's point-of-view, and these become shakier and more unsettling as the film goes on.

But it is clearly the performances of the cast that make this film as powerful and affecting as it is. Julianne Moore is amazing in the titular role, and performs with such tenderness and realism that I found myself being drawn into the story from beginning to end. The high standard of her craft was acknowledged when she was not only nominated for, but won, the Academy Award for Best Actress. Not only that, but she earned the so-called Quintuple Crown: Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics' Choice Award and the BAFTA Award.

Lydia (Kristen Stewart).

There are brilliant performances from all the rest of the cast, but the other clear standout of this film is without a doubt Kristen Stewart, who is magnificent as Lydia, the daughter who becomes closer than ever to her mother while supporting her in her struggle. Before seeing this film - first on the big screen when it was released, and subsequently on many repeat viewings - I had only encountered Stewart in her portrayal of Bella Swan in the Twilight series. It is this film that in my mind establishes her as a serious actress, and a talent powerhouse; her role is so different from anything else I have seen her in before or since, and she treats the material with such deep respect, bringing her character to life in the most realistic way.

Directors Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland have made a truly beautiful film here, one that I have now seen more times than I could care to count (and will probably watch for many more times in years to come). Their handling of the subject matter is respectful above all else, and they both display knowledge and experience of appropriate pacing, tension and drama.

You absolutely must see this film as soon as possible if you haven't (or even if you have).

10 out of 10.