Monday, June 14, 2010

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1966
Directed by: Mike Nichols
Starring; Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sandy Dennis, George Segal
Written by: Edward Albee

I can't say enough good things about this movie. My roommate, Jesse, has been trying to get me to watch it for awhile, but I'm never in the mood to sit down and watch something old and depressing. He finally just turned it on one night and I was completely hooked. The screenplay (originally a play, I believe) is one of the tightest, most brilliant pieces of writing I've ever witnessed. The acting is incredible, and all four of the main characters should have won Oscars for acting (the two women did). Movies today don't understand "fucked-uppedness" like the good old days. Or maybe just like Mike Nichols does. The impending doom you feel in films like The Graduate and Virginia Woolf are overplayed today. Only Todd Solondz has achieved something similar in Happiness, in later years. Wes Anderson kind of fuckuppery is entertaining, but not as completely spooky and funny and intense as movies like Virginia Woolf.

I can't recommend this movie enough--for the stunning cinematography, incomparable acting, and zingy, truthful one-liners. You'll feel better about yourself and worse about humankind. Thanks, Jesse!

A+