Away From Her - Film Review

Yesterday night, I did something unexpected, something that was totally against the fabric of my masculine being, something that was arguably against the way God had designed a man.

I rented a chick flick.

I hate putting down my hard earned money on crappy movies of all genres. It just so happens that based on my experience, these tear-jerker dramatic types tend to take the cake, in terms of making me realize that food digestion takes more than a couple of hours. But in the spirit of wanting to afford my wife some viewing options, I thought it best for me to not force my preference of action/suspense thriller movies onto her once more. She is pregnant, after all, and I must be sensitive to her proclivities at this point in her pregnancy.

So I scanned the new release shelves of Blockbuster for anything that would elicit a reaction that would be akin to "Like hell, will I watch that!" Just for good measure, I read the description on the back of the box, and if it was something that screamed, "You're a true homo if you watch this!", that would be my choice for the evening.

So I brought home a movie entitled, "Away From Her". Essentially, from what I remember from what the box said, the movie is about a married couple over 50, both of whom are struggling with the wife's obviously increased disposition towards developing Alzheimer's disease, and how he reconciles the fact that her affections are for another man.

If you are a truly heterosexual red-blooded male, and read that on the back of the box, I am willing to bet nine times out of ten, you'd place the box back on the shelf and run out of the store, grabbing your hair, and screaming to have dinner at Hooter's. I guess I felt like the 1 in 10 men who contemplated renting the movie long enough to actually rent it. Besides, I reasoned, this is for my wife, not for me. I'll go along and perhaps daydream about my business transactions or my investment portfolio, as I present the disposition of actually watching the movie.

Now, I did not know that this was a Canadian film. I may have suspected it, since I saw the lovely and talented Sarah Polley was producing it. And it starred Gordon Pinsent, whose Canadian films I've seen before and whose acting I admire, as well as Julie Christie, who was once a easy-on-the-eyes Russian agent in a James Bond movie.

I won't give away many plot details in case you haven't seen the movie, but for a Canadian production, it was pretty good (and I say that to not debase Canadian productions, but it's just a known fact that while Canadian movies are generally a breath of fresh air from the standard American fare, they are generally of lower caliber from all aspects from production, acting, plot and music). Away From Her was not a flashy movie, but based on the subject matter, it wasn't supposed to be. You won't be finding any stunts or explosions/light shows, or latest cutting edge music on the soundtrack. It was a wistful, contemplative movie that really relied on Pinsent and Christie's characters to roll the plot along. There were some nice supportive characters which were acted very well by their real-life counterparts, which added more rounding and substance to the story.

The progression of the plot, while some may consider a bit on the slow side, I thought was done very well in order to really delve into the characters feelings and expressions, as well as to show the slow onset of Alzheimer's. There were a number of scenes in which nothing was said, but the point was made quite clear, before the scene faded. I thought that such tools to progress the plot and enhance character development were very well done.

I did notice, unfortunately, that there was obviously some seemingly forced Canadian content (quota) that they had to meet, since they threw in names of Canadian cities and towns in the oddest places in conversation. I think from the cinematography and landscape, you can tell it was a Canadian production - they didn't have to put in all the references to Brantford or British Columbia or whatever. It was really out of place. In U.S. movies, they don't name drop U.S. towns and cities so blatantly.

Also out of place (and likely inappropriate) was the blatant anti-American sentiment seen when the characters are watching coverage of the war in the Middle East. This is obviously Polley's severe left-wing bent that is making its appearance, but for a movie with this topic, it neither added to the plot nor added to the characters.

Sadly, in today's films, the producers and writers just cannot get away from swearing or using cuss words. Unfortunately Away From Her was not immune to this. There were several instances where characters used f-words liberally (the only person who used a swear word that was somewhat believeable was the teenage gothic girl who sat on the couch beside Mr. Anderson, at one scene. To have a frail old woman on a walker, who obviously had some horny hormones going, using the term, "claustrof*ck" seemed not only out of place, but it was seen as a cheap stunt to be on par with typical Hollywood productions. Take out all the swearing and the film would be so much better.

Overall, however, I found the film to be...oh my gosh...heartwarming. My wife made liberal use of the Kleenex box throughout the movie and I must admit, I did develop some moist eyeballs at several points (probably due to my house being so damn dry in the fall). I thought they they explored the progression of Alzheimer's in a respectful and realistic way. The actors did a fantastic job in bringing out the emotions of the characters and that only added to the admirable job in how the characters were developed. My wife wished that the ending was a bit neater (it left a few loose ends), but I think it was deliberately done like that as to not follow the typical American film formula. Away from Her is definitely worth your consideration, and no, I won't think you are a homo if you watch it.