Still Alice is an aching portrayal of how a lifetime disease completely destroys the life of a person and tests the people around. Alice (Julianne Moore) is highly successful linguistic professor who is intelligent and loving. She has recently turned 50 and is married to John (Alec Baldwin) and has three children. When Alice is diagnosed with early onset of Alzheimer's which is rare at her age, the family is left devastated. Moreover the form of the disease is rare and also genetically inheritable. Alzheimer's disease slowly degrades the functionalities of victim's brain, if you don't know. At start, Alice can't remember a difficult word during one of her linguistics lecture but towards the end she cant even remember who she is or her family. Still Alice captures this transformation subtly and its an emotional experience. Whatever happens Alice remains as strong as possible and faces the problems with support of her family. Definitely the biggest credit goes to Julianne Moore, whose performance was pivotal in connecting with Alice. She very well deserved her first Oscar. The scene where Alice gives a speech to other Alzheimer's patients was touching and motivating. Also Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart were notably good as ever supportive husband of Alice and her youngest child Lydia. Alice and Lydia have a kind of special bond and the film exploits it very nicely. The soundtrack was gentle and soulfully good plus the cinematography was beautiful. But I felt the story missed many opportunities to strike the chords harder and was predictable many times. Would have been better I feel if more screen time was provided to rest of the family (esp. the children). Anyways, Still Alice stays strongly focused on Alice and boosted by a memorable performance by Julianne Moore it becomes am immersing experience. Its sad, heartbreaking and human. If you don't have much idea about Alzheimer's disease I suggest you must not miss this one!
RATING: [3.5/5]
RATING: [3.5/5]