2/19: Albert Nobbs

On the 27th Day of my 34 Days of Oscar, I saw the movie "Albert Nobbs". This film is nominated this year for 3 Academy Awards: Best Actress (Glenn Close), Best Supporting Actress (Janet McTeer) and Best Makeup.

"Albert Nobbs", based on a short story by Irish writer George Moore, is the story of a woman working as a man in the late 19th Century in Ireland. Albert (Glenn Close) has made a living as a hotel waiter for over 30 years and is now working to save and buy herself a tobacco shop of her own.

When the owner of the hotel Albert is working at hires a new painter, Hubert Page (Janer McTeer), Albert is shocked to discover that Hubert is a woman posing as a man. Albert is also surprised to discover that Mr. Page has a wife and owns her own business. The story of Mr. Page gives Albert the confidence to begin the process of getting that tobacco shop she wants. Albert also starts courting one of the hotel maids, Helen (Mia Wasikowska) with the thought of having her be his wife. At first, Helen only goes out with Albert because her boyfriend wants to take Albert's money to finance their escape to America. As she spends more time with Albert, Helen begins to get conflicted on who she wants to be with and Albert grows ever closer to getting what she has always wanted - her own business and a wife to help run it.

I thought "Albert Nobbs" really only had 2 things going for it, the performances of the 2 main women in it. I thought Glenn Close, in her Oscar nominated role, was great (if not a little creepy sometimes) as the awkward and lonely Mr. Nobbs. The best part about this film, though, was the performance of Janet McTeer. She turned in an amazingly complex and compassionate performance as the woman who discovers and keeps Albert's secret. I am glad that her performance was noticed and that she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for this role, she deserved it. The makeup in "Albert Nobbs" has been nominated for an Academy Award as well. In my opinion they did a good job, just not good enough. In my opinion,a good

makeup job doesn't draw attention to itself, but I kept thinking about how strange Glen Close looked in all that makeup. I don't know if it could have been any better, I just kept watching & wondering how nobody noticed she was a woman. I also didn't really care for the whole storyline of the movie itself. I didn't like a lot of the characters and found myself annoyed at the plot as it progressed.

Overall, I don't recommend "Albert Nobbs" and give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. My rating probably would have been a little lower if not for the 2 Academy Award nominated performances, especially Janet McTeer. This is one of those rare cases where I disliked the movie, but really liked the performances.