2.5 Paws
Seen recently at 20 Grand Cinema
The 85th Academy Award nominations will be announced Jan. 10, but the race for the best actor Oscar is already over. John Hawkes (Teardrop from Winter's Bone, y'all) turns in the most compelling performance I've seen on screen since Daniel Day Lewis's 1989 triumph as Christy Brown in My Left Foot. You'd swear Hawkes is as dependent on an iron lung as is the character he plays, Mark O'Brien - how else could he get it so right?
The supporting cast is pitch perfect - if there were most priests like William H. Macy, the world would probably be a more Catholic place. O'Brien's attendants are also noteworthy, especially Nebraska-born Moon Lovegood.
And then there's Helen Hunt. I know she's an Academy Award winning actress, but I remember her from her after school special days (I loved it when she got all hopped up and dove out the window at school). Why does she insist on tackling East Coast accents she just can't pull off?
Bonus Bones: 0
The real Mark O'Brien, it appears, was a cat guy, although I could have done without the last scene - a bit too manipulative for my taste.
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