by Deborah Lipp
In the second year of Oscar’s expanded, ten-nominee slate for Best Picture, the change proved its worth. The occassion was the nomination of The Kids are All Right, a film of such perfection that there can be no doubt of its worthiness, yet who could have imagined its inclusion? In 2010, we definitely weren’t ready for a queer picture to win, and ten years later, it seems like we’re still not ready for a female-centric film to win. But inclusion is victory, and anyone who watched The Kids are All Right solely because it was nominated was also a winner.
The Kids are All Right is an intimate and human movie. Everything and everyone here has skin that is fully lived-in, fully human, and perfectly, adorably messy...
The story in brief: Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Benning) are a long-married couple with two teenagers. When Joni (Mia Wasikowska) turns 18, younger brother Laser (Josh Hutcherson) convinces her to contact their biological father/sperm donor, thus bringing Paul (Mark Ruffalo) and assorted complications into their lives.
The plot machinations are a little contrived, and some lesbian heads exploded at the taboo way that interactions with a sperm donor were portrayed. But machinations are just that—the machinery by which character is revealed. And character is the point here.
Within the first few minutes, we understand this family—a marriage with love and tension, warmth and resentment. This house is so occupied, its people so real. All the small touches can rightly be called “grace notes” because they are truly graceful. Each of the teens has a really problematic friend, and those friendships hold a mirror up to our main characters, letting us see their struggles. None of which is readily summed up; it’s all that stuff, growing up and sexuality and rebellion and longing, hung out to dry for all the world to see, except the kids themselves don’t see it.
But the starring characters, Nic and Jules, are where most of the attention deservedly falls. Annette Bening was Oscar nominated for Best Actress. The Golden Globes and BAFTA nominated were yet more generous nominating Julianne Moore along with Bening. All of this is due to a level of nuance and truth that I just can’t praise enough.
Of course, much of the praise belongs to the script (also nominated). I’m a Lisa Cholodenko fan—she writes scripts that are moody, honest, and queer as fuck (see High Art). But she’s also kind of gloomy. For The Kids are All Right she brought in Stuart Blumberg to add some comedy to the script. Great idea! The film has a few real belly laughs that don’t compromise its authenticity in the least.
In 2010, I adored this movie; its very real lesbians, its honesty, its humor. I’ve seen it two or three times since, and happy to share that it gets better with each viewing.