Why is Julianne Moore even still making movies? I can think of few American actors with less to prove than Moore, fewer still who have turned in as many brave and egoless performances as she has over the last three decades.
Chilean director Sebastián Lelio (A Fantastic Woman) admires her too. In fact, he says that he chose to remake his 2013 film Gloria as his English-language debut specifically because he was such a big Julianne Moore fan that he wanted to see what she would do with the role. To anyone like me who has not seen the original, it would feel like the part of Gloria was written for her. Gloria is a 50-something divorced mother of two adult children (Michael Cera and Caren Pistorious). She has a full-time job and her kids do spend some time with her but it’s not enough to keep her from getting lonely.
Luckily, Gloria loves disco and loves to dance and she never cuts loose quite like she does when she’s alone on the dance floor on Singles Night. That’s where she meets the charmingly awkward Arnold (John Turtorro). The two quickly strike up a relationship even if Arnold’s co-dependent relationship with his ex-wife and adult daughters seem to hold him back from completely commiting to Gloria.
Thinking back, there is something very sad about Gloria Bell. But that’s only in retrospect. Lelio, like Gloria, chooses not to dwell on the sadness. Instead, his film spends so much time being laugh out loud funny that and is just optimistic enough that you can almost mistake it for a mindless crowd pleaser. It’s only three or four movies later when I realized that this was the one that I was still thinking about that I realized what a fully realized character they’ve created (or recreated) together. It doesn’t hurt that those in her life, the supporting cast, all seem to have real lives of their own when they’re not onscreen and could easily have starred in films of their own. I for one would have loved to know a lot more about Arnold. But really this is Gloria’s story and Lelio and Moore do her proud in a really impressive and effective film.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
Sounds like one to see. Both Julianne and Turturro have seasoned well, and it will be fun to watch this combo.
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I love Julianne Moore. Her performance in Boogie Nights is one of my favorite all time performances. Stunning. Then there’s The Big Lebowski…I’m laughing now just thinking of it. I always enjoy Turtorro too (speaking of The Big Lebowski.) I’m up for this one. Thanks for the great review.
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Yeah it’s definitely not what you’d expect from a Big Lebowski reunion but it’s still great
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I probably wouldn’t go for a flick like this unless there was something particularly special about it… but I’m a big fan of both Moore and Turturro (I even like him in Transformers), so definitely one for catching on Netflix or the likes.
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Actually, I really didn’t find that his character worked at all for me in Transformers. Other than that I completely agree.
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I’ll be looking out for this, not normally my thing but you sold it!
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Huge Julianne Moore fan here as well…and this looks like a charmer of a film.
I see you reviewed “The English Teacher”,she was very good in a not so good film.
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Oh that must have been Jay because I don’t think I’ve heard of The English Teacher
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It’s a bit uneven but Julianne is radiant as always. Worth checking out for sure…
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Oooh, sounds good. I’ll keep an eye out.
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Oooh this sounds good.
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Love Julianne Moore!! Must-watch for me.
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On my list. 🙂
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