{"id":11286,"date":"2011-01-16T04:12:54","date_gmt":"2011-01-16T12:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=11286"},"modified":"2011-01-30T13:36:30","modified_gmt":"2011-01-30T21:36:30","slug":"the-kids-are-all-right-lisa-cholodenko-2010-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=11286","title":{"rendered":"The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, 2010): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau<\/a>. Viewed on DVD.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Oscar season is upon us and with ten slots to fill in the Best Picture category one of the films receiving a lot of support for that nomination is director Lisa Cholodenko\u2019s indie drama The Kids Are All Right<\/em><\/a>. With subpar indie films like Little Miss Sunshine<\/em>, Juno<\/em>, and Milk<\/em> undeservedly receiving similar attention and nominations in the past I was somewhat skeptical about this film\u2019s credibility. While this year\u2019s highly overrated Winter\u2019s Bone<\/em> proves I am justified in my suspicions I am glad to say this film is deserving of its praise and will indeed be a legitimate Best Picture nominee.<\/p>\n

When the children of lesbian parents Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore), Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson), seek out their sperm donor father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo) a whole chain of events are set in motion. Joni and Laser begin to bond with Paul, but a very neglected Jules begins an affair with Paul that threatens to tear the family apart.<\/p>\n

The film has a nice easy flow and writer (along with Stuart Blumberg) and director Cholodenko lets emotions get raw but keeps situations and dialogue believable which could have easily become exaggerated and false in a story like this. Cholodenko shows not only a knowledge of lesbian couples, but of marriage and family life in general. <\/p>\n

The acting is uniformly and the film\u2019s greatest strength along with a sharp screenplay. Hutcherson and Wasikowska both turn in solid performances as the kids. <\/p>\n

Ruffalo has been rightly touted as a likely supporting actor nominee for his spot on portrayal of the easy going, and way too easy to like, Paul. Bening has been getting the film\u2019s best notices as Nic, the overbearing, judgmental, and disciplinarian head of the family, but Julianne Moore is equally excellent in her role as Jules, the more, vulnerable, feminine, and motherly of the couple. All three are deserving of acting nominations, doing some of the finest work of their careers.<\/p>\n

Cholodenko maintains a sweetness in the tone of the film that makes it enjoyable without letting it get too cute or too overbearing in its dramatic situations. It\u2019s an indie film that is worthy of the praise it has already received and the Best Picture nomination it is going to receive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD. Oscar season is upon us and with ten slots to fill in the Best Picture category one of the films receiving a lot of support for that nomination is director Lisa Cholodenko\u2019s indie drama The Kids Are All Right. With subpar indie films like Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}