Stage-screen adaptations can be arduous, implausible and melodramatic. The last two contemporary disappointments that fit this bill were Closer and Carnage.0

I’m going to be honest with you: I was quite ready to put writer Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County in the same category.

That is, until I actually watched it.

When alcoholic poet Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard) drowns, his immediate family flock to Oklahoma to spend a few days with his deranged widowed wife Violet (Meryl Streep).

The troubled family comprises Violet’s sister Mattie Fae (Margot Martindale) and three daughters: the fiery Barbara (Julia Roberts), docile Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) and the foolish Karen (Juliette Lewis).

Everything that could possibly go wrong does, slowly uncovering the family’s problematic past.

Make no doubt about it, Osage County is an actor’s picture: the cinematography, editing and other technical elements play second fiddle to the acting and script.

Many have found this to be the drama’s biggest fault but frankly, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Focusing an audience’s attention purely on a picture’s acting and script is a risk but with a rich and talented ensemble cast like this one, director John Wells undoubtedly made the right decision. In any case, the cinematography, editing, production design and so forth are there to aid in the telling of the story rather than to be an entity in themselves: the more invisible these components are, the better.

And what of this rich and talented ensemble cast? Streep steals the show, yet again. Considered by many to be the finest actress in Hollywood, she has the gargantuan task of portraying Letts’ most insane character.

Unsurprisingly, she does so with great dexterity, disturbing us all with her foul mouth and her questionable parenting. It is her most impressive performance of the last five years and one that does not – thankfully – stray into melodrama.

Sadly, she’ll lose out to Cate Blanchett at the Academy Awards next month.

And what of Roberts? I couldn’t have predicted a better comeback role than this one. After turkeys like the Tom Hanks helmed Larry Crowne, she wows us with an explosive performance.

It is through her character’s eyes that we view much of the narrative, so it is really Roberts who holds the entire picture together.

Furthermore, her Oscar nomination reminds us that she has not lost her touch and is still a formidable actress.

As always, Stevenson and Martindale shine in their supporting roles: here are two actresses who really ought to be bagging meatier roles in Hollywood.

Currently, my favourite film of 2013. Not to be missed.

Stars - ★★★★★

Reviewed by Rehan Mudannayake

August: Osage County

Drama

Plot: A look at the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.

Director: John Wells

Writer: Tracy Letts

Stars: Meryl Streep, Dermot Mulroney, Julia Roberts