August: Osage [Fangirl] County

It’s every introvert’s dream to watch a movie in a theater all alone — or whoever they happen to be with. Right? Or is it just me?Last week Caitlin and I headed a town over to watch August: Osage County because I’d honestly rather drive to a country bumpkin town 40 minutes away than go to the nice movie theater downtown that’s 15-20 minutes from my house. If you’re familiar with Stockton, you’d understand. Anyhow, much to our delight, when we walked into the theater for the 10pm showing it was completely empty! I did my little happy bounce knowing that I’d be able to fangirl whenever Benedict Cumberbatch’s strange yet handsome face would grace the screen. Of course, my happiness dwindled down when a couple of other folks came into the theater minutes later. *shakes fists at the heavens*

I had heard many good things about August: Osage County, and from the trailers I had seen I thought it was supposed to be a bit of a dramady, and I did laugh… the things I laughed at weren’t necessarily supposed to be funny though. This movie was rife with tragedy. A LOT of tragedy. I really did enjoy the film, but I just don’t think I’d be able to sit through it again. It was depressing as hell and emotionally shattering. Meryl Streep’s performance as Violet Weston, a begrudged middle-aged house wife with mouth cancer, was phenomenal (duh, it’s Meryl Steep after all), and the rest of the cast (Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, etc) was perfect too. And there were so many moments that were horribly uncomfortable and shocking, it got to the point where I had to take the sides of my cardigan and criss-cross them over my face to blind myself from what was going on in front of me. I get second-hand embarrassed so easily. x__x

Given the content of the film, I felt slightly horrible for my fangirl actions. Fangirl actions? Like what? Well for instance, when Ewan McGregor’s handsome bearded mug popped up  my natural instinct was to reach out to the screen longingly and turn to Caitlin and whisper, “OH MY GOD! EWAN McGREGOR! SO HANDSOME! I TOTALLY FORGOT HE WAS IN THIS MOVIE [because I was so goddamn excited about Cumberbatch — we both were].” And when Benedict Cumberbatch showed up as Little Charles, the mentally slow but oh-so-sweet nephew of Meryl Streep’s character, we both reached out to the screen and were like, “Awww, baby! Don’t be cry! OH MY GOD HE’S SO CUTE” (he’s in a bit of a sad state when the audience first meets his character). Oh, and he plays the piano and sings in the movie too [see clip below to hear it]. Yeah. Really. That’s when we had to try our very best to contain our feels, but both of us managed to mutter “No, don’t play the piano, you’re going to make me love you more. OMG YOU CAN SING. I LOVE YOU. DAMN YOU.”

DAMN HIM AND HIS TALENT AND HIS STRANGE BUT BEAUTIFUL FACE.

Whew. Sorry.

I swear, I acted as if I was watching Twilight or something. Ugh. I did my very best to not interrupt the viewing experience of the two other people in the theater though. But y’know what? I think the fangirling helped a bit, otherwise I would’ve left the theater in a completely horrible state of mind which wouldn’t have been ideal for the drive back home. The family dynamics were just so broken, and it didn’t matter that I knew it was fictional, I just felt so miserable witnessing  every character shatter like fine china onto the ground. So I’m glad I watched it with a fellow Cumberbitch who happily and quietly squeled along with me. 🙂

Um, well… this wasn’t much of a review now was it? If anything this movie going experience only showed me that hanging onto itty bitty pieces of your youth (being a fangirl is a step up from being a 12-year old teeny bopper) can definitely help make the most out of any awkward and depressing situation. Does that even make sense? Whatever. I’m gonna shut up now.

Penalosa out. *drops mic*

Cheers,
Nina