Julianne Moore is a top contender for the Academy Award for Best Actress this year with very good reason. Her performance as a Columbia professor with early onset Alzheimer's disease is touching. We watch Moore transform as her disease progresses in some very emotional, but not overly sentimental, scenes. One of the most poignant scenes comes when Alice gives a speech at an Alzheimer's conference, resourcefully overcoming her disability to give a beautiful speech. The movie is not just about deterioration of a brilliant mind, but also has its own moments of joy as life does. The movie's depiction of Alzheimer's is brutally honest but it refrains from being cliched.
I came into the movie expecting an excellent performance from Julianne Moore, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a very good supporting cast as well. Alzheimer's affects the whole family and Alice's children and husband each react in their own ways. It is interesting to see the different responses of Alice's two daughters, one of whom is played by Kristen Stewart. She has broken out of her restrictively flat Twilight character to surprisingly show some real depth in a few scenes. Keep an eye out for more good work from Stewart.
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