Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

Melissa McCarhthy is obviously a comedienne.When I heard she was doing a drama, I was naturally surprised. But there is a lot more comedy in the movie than I was led to believe. And good thing there is because McCarthy is phenomenal. She gets to shine in this dramatic-comedic hybrid role as a cynical writer who can't find work who turns to literary forgery. Director Marielle Heller does an incredible job at making something that is extremely niche accessible to a broad audience. Cause really who knows or cares anything about literary collectibles? Richard E. Grant plays her partner in crime and his character is somehow simultaneously sleazy and charming. Grant and McCarthy play off of each other brilliantly. I think Dolly Wells as Anna is really charming too. It's really surprisingly enjoyable overall.

45 Years (2015)

Needless to say, I think I'm a little too young to appreciate this portrait of an elderly couple celebrating their 45th anniversary. I don't know if celebrating is quite the right word. Most of the movie is actually in the run-up to the big party when a bit of new information about an old girlfriend from 50 years ago disrupts their preparations. This movie explores how a relationship that has lasted for so long evolves. What was once a picture of stability is now turned upside down and the actors convey this with subtle movements and small inflections in their voices. But in these smallest of actions and displays of emotion they say so much.

Charlotte Rampling is devastating as the wife who has to find out about her husband's ex-girlfriend 50 years later, whose spirit has returned to lurk in the corner of every room in the house--quite figuratively the elephant in the room. One scene in particular stood out for me. She is going through old slides and for the first time we see the ex-girlfriend's face from the reverse side of the projector screen. We see just enough of the screen on the right side of the shot to make out a face, and Rampling sits in the background. We catch glimpses of her face as the light from the slide projector goes off and on. And her face just says it all.