Beautiful and moving, Silver Linings Playbook boasts powerful performances and a bizarre
narrative that makes you laugh your entrails out during the funny moments and
reach for the Kleenex during the others. It also makes you wish for every guy
with a broken heart to find a Jennifer Lawrence to fix him and dance with.
Director David O Russell combines the zany
elements of his Flirting with Disaster and
the suburban dramatic themes of his The
Fighter to great effect. Bradley Cooper, in an Oscar nominated turn stars
as a bipolar man who has thrashed his wife’s lover and has arrived home after a
stint at the psychiatric ward. He still believes he can get his estranged wife
back, but his family and his therapist believe some pills would be better
suited instead.
Typical of O Russell films, the characters surrounding
him exhibit eccentric energy as well; his father (De Niro in top form) is a thoroughly
superstitious, semi violent football addict who likes his TV remote placed only
at a particular angle. His neighbor who is a super-hot but certified lunatic widow
(Lawrence) develops an interest in him. In one scene our hero paces his room in
the wee hours of the night because he cannot agree with the nihilist overtones
of Ernest Hemmingway. Later when the attractive crazy widow from next door
throws herself at him he blames her for her poor social skills, following which
she literally chases him down the streets in every morning. These are not just
eccentricities in the characters, they’re marvelously detailed quirks that manage
to be relatable rather than forced thanks to the terrific cast.
O Russell gloriously demonstrates his knack
of directing scenes of family conflict, all of which are so superbly
staged one begins to wonder if they’re hilarious or heartbreaking. The banter
between DeNiro and Cooper is in particular incredibly intense as a hint of
mental illness running in the family is superbly established. The loud back and
forth between the characters is bipolar as well, constantly veering from laugh
out loud to crushing drama. The film somehow manages to walk the tightrope between
the themes of mental instability, dysfunctional families, new love and closure
while still being an entertaining, crowd pleasing bit of cinema, complete with
a dance contest as the finale. The timing is impeccable as there’s a flicker of
light whenever things get too dark, and every single bit of humor has a tinge
of darkness to it.
O Russell manages to make the dance contest rise
above the contrived plot device, making it a metaphor for moving on instead of moping
around with a broken heart. Both leads play wounded characters scrabbling their
way to wellness, and no one else but Jennifer Lawrence could’ve pulled her role
off – she is one of the very few Hollywood actresses who doesn’t confuse
vulnerability with weakness. When she’s not smiling, her snarling dialogue delivery
is an unremitting Gatling Gun of words. Towards the end of the film Lawrence
takes on the football crazy family and delivers a rapid fire monologue that
pretty much annihilates everyone else in the room. By the end of the monologue
I found myself standing up and clapping, having fallen completely in love with
Miss Lawrence. I’d be surprised if you don’t experience something similar.
(First published in MiD Day)
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