Just got back from “The Hours.” While it’s not successful in what I think it set out to do – tell three interrelated stories about three women in three different eras – it succeeds wildly along the edges. Nicole Kidman is miraculous as Virginia Woolf, and let me tell you, the genius of her performance has very little to do with the now infamous fake nose. The intelligence that comes from her eyes is startling; it’s the performance of a career.
Even more wonderful is seeing a mainstream movie that deals intelligently with depression and the creative process, without turning it into a Lifetime Movie. Watching Woolf puzzle out the beginning of “Mrs. Dalloway” is worth the price of admission alone, and there’s painfully true detail about her depression and its effect on everyone around her.
If only the story were just about Virginia Woolf, since the other sections (despite great work as usual from Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore) just serve to prop up and illuminate Woolf’s story, and not all that successfully. There’s just not enough time to give those other stories justice.
Recommended.
You’re a great writer, Adam. I always enjoy your reviews.
That’s what I keep telling him!