Thursday, August 7, 2014

The Hours (2002)

The Hours
Director: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman
Starring: Liked It
Budget: $25 Million
Box Office: $109 Million (according to wikipedia)

The Hours is essentially about a Virginia Woolf novel, Mrs. Dalloway, and how it is involved in a mid-to-late 20th century, multi-generational story. The first and most important story follows Virginia Woolf in the midst of life struggles and writing the novel Mrs. Dalloway. The 2nd story follows a 1950's housewife with struggles of her own, and it happens to be during the time she is reading the novel Mrs. Dalloway. The 3rd and final story follows a woman in 2001, who is effected by a character in the 2nd storyline.

I could definitely see how the movie could be boring to some, but I found it captivating. I see why Nicole Kidman won the oscar for her role as Virginia Woolf. It's pretty hard to even tell that it is Kidman doing the role. And sometimes that's when the best performances happen; when you can't even tell who the actor on screen is, but it happens to be a very famous actor whom you've seen in countless other movies.

The Hours is more on the pessimistic side of life, so stay away if you want a real happy movie. This is obvious if you know anything about Virginia Woolf, though. Overall, it's very well acted and it's an interesting story about the ripples through generations of people and artists.