The Film is More than All Right

One of the gems of last year's Sundance Film Festival, The Kids are All Right is a family comedy drama that is packed with critically-acclaimed performances from its cast, most notably Annette Bening, Julian Moore and Mark Ruffalo, making the film charming and entertaining. Had it not been for Natalie Portman's breakthrough performance in Black Swan, the Oscar trophy should be shared by the two female leads playing a married lesbian couple. Bening was precise and natural in portraying a controlling, perfectionist surgeon that could be weak at times, while Moore was the hippy homestay mom that let herself be controlled by Nic, though she sometimes defends her authority with their kids. The Academy was generous to nominate Ruffalo in the Best Supporting Actor award for his charming performance in this film.

This film is an ordinary story of couples trying to overcome relationship problems, parents trying to raise teenagers, and teenagers trying to find their sperm-donor dad. What's not ordinary is that the parents here are both moms, and the teenagers conspired to meet Paul (Ruffalo) without the knowledge of their moms. It turns out that dad, who rides motorcycles and advocate of organic foods, was cool, at least that's the first impression. The moms were left with no choice but to meet him. Besides the kids, Jules (Moore) also took a liking on him, especially that he hired her as landscape design to encourage her newfound career. They had an affair that put her marriage with Nic (Bening) hit rock bottom. Of course, the affair was not the only problem in their relationship--Nic, a surgeon, does not seem to support home-based Jules' new passion. Enter Paul, who made Jules feel that she is indeed talented in the art of landscaping. Nic and the kids found out about their affair, and soon Paul was out of their lives again.

The Kids are All Right did not dwell too much on the issue of same-sex marriage but instead focused on the issues of a conventional family. There was no melodrama about having lesbians as parents, making it seem like a naturally accepted set-up. In the Philippine context, however, conservatives and the religious would probably be not comfortable watching it. But the film is so well-made that, although in principle they might not agree with the set-up, they would at least sympathize with the characters. In a sense, it seems like it's a film about the future--at least for those states or countries like the Philippines that do not permit same-sex marriage--when having two moms or dads standing is universally accepted.

Other issues were also not addressed directly like Laser's (Josh Hutcherson) drug use or Joni's (Mia Wasikowska) sexual curiosity. What the moms addressed though was their suspicion if Laser was a homosexual because he was caught to be watching gay porn with his male best friend inside her parents' room. The DVD, by the way, was her parents'.

Favorite Film Moments:

1. Nic bursting into a  song during dinner, then Paul joins her in singing a common favorite song. Things seem to be going all right between Nic and Paul after a bad start. But after this scene, Nic finds Jules' hair in Paul's drainage and bed. Bad blood returns. 

2. Jules explaining to Laser why she and Nic watch gay porn. 

3. Joni having her last dinner with her family before moves out of the house to go to college. Paul arrives unexpectedly, hoping to say goodbye to her sperm offspring, but Joni tells him to never call her again. 

4. Joni  running toward her family to say goodbye when she moved in in her college dorm the day after Jules confessed about her affair with Paul. Before this scene, they all went to see her door room, but she asked them to leave her alone for a minute. She scanned the room and began to arrange her bed. She then realized that it would be her last time to see her family and hurried down. At first, she could not find them and thought that they left without saying goodbye. She was relieved to see their car approach her, and before heading back home they finally said their goodbyes. 

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The Kids are All Right won Golden Globe Best Motion Picture for Comedy or Musical, Best Actress in Comedy or Musical, and Berlin Film Festival Teddy Awards. It bagged four major nominations in this year's Oscars.