Danielle Solzman
August: Osage County is a dysfunctional family tragicomedy that just marked the tenth anniversary of its theatrical release in 2013.
If there is a 2013 film that features the most acting on display, it’s this one. This is a film that contains a powerhouse of a cast. Both Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts would receive Oscar nominations for Best Actress and Supporting Actress, respectively. The screenplay, cast, and other crew would earn nominations at other awards shows. That being said, the film just missed out on the Solzy Awards for 2013. This is more or less because it’s wider release came after the new year and my rules require seeing the film before the end of the year. It’s an unfortunate downside of living in a smaller market at the time. Not that seeing the film before the end of the year would have made much of a difference. Unfortunately, it is also just not top ten film material.
The film follows the Weston family, mainly the women, after Beverly Weston (Sam Sherpard) causes a crisis to bring them back to their Midwest home. With this comes the dysfunctional comedy or drama, depending on your sense of humor. I admit that I probably laughed more in January 2014 because the laughter is contagious in a theater. Whether it lands or not, again, depends on your sense of humor. Something that might be funny to one person might not be funny to someone else and that’s perfectly okay. Whether it is working for you or not, you’re still watching a powerhouse cast act the hell out of Tracy Letts’ screenplay, which was also adapted from his stage play.
The major scene in the film has to be the nineteen-page scene in which everyone is dining around the table. Aside from Sam Shepard, just about the entire cast is present around the table. Meryl Streep is not in the photo because it is from the point of view of her character. We’ve all been to this sort of family dinner before and that’s especially what makes this scene feel so beautifully directed.
There are times where a film with theatrical roots either opens up in a screen adaptation or it doesn’t. They certainly do their best to open things up. Luckily for the audience, there are scenes that take us outside their Oklahoma home and onto the road. The decisions work in the film’s advantage because otherwise, it would just feel too confined if they stuck to the house. Filming on location certainly comes with its own challenges of having everyone under the same roof and filming around them.
There is a lot of acting going on in August: Osage County and that’s fine.
DIRECTOR: John Wells
SCREENWRITER: Tracy Letts
CAST: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Sam Shepard, Misty Upham
