FILM: Still Alice (dirs: Richard Glatzner and Wash Westmoreland, 2015)

"One thing I will try to hold onto though is the memory of speaking here today. It will go, I know it will. It may be gone by tomorrow. But it means so much to be talking here, today...."

Still Alice is two hours of exquisite film-making but also necessarily relentless emotional battering.  Julianne Moore - always an extremely intelligent but grounded actress - is at her riveting best here, but she is supported by a truly outstanding ensemble (notably Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth and Hunter Parrish) who all ensure that the confusion, despair and helplessness of the impact of Alzheimer's is not confined to the central character.  Still Alice is a sombre, challenging and dignified film that balances a genuinely touching personal drama with making the necessary wider points in an exceptionally well-made way.