Review: Shirley
Friday, June 5, 2020 at 9:00AM by Chris Feil
Josephine Decker’s Shirley opens with the false optimism of young love with a couple in the mold of American idealism. Over the film’s volleying and spry 107 minutes, Decker curdles it with subversion by focusing on their dismantler: the genius writer Shirley Jackson, played by Elisabeth Moss.
The couple at the center, Rose (Odessa Young) and Fred (Logan Lerman), arrive in a college town already imbalanced, favoring the advancement of his studies over her own. Fred is under the leadership of writer and professor Stanley Hyman (Michael Stuhlbarg), the husband of Jackson, with Rose and Fred taking up residence in their booze-drenched home. The young couple disrupts their existence with tranquility and squareness, but Rose’s curiosity and oppression halts a patch of writer’s block for Shirley. The film crescendos with the status quo of the campus upper crust, Rose’s intoxication with Shirley, and the wringing of Shirley’s next masterpiece.
Decker’s themes cross some orbit with her previous film, the maddening and wondrous Madeline’s Madeline. That film tackled artistic ethics and the disorientation of an identity projected onto you; Shirley provides another manipulative artist and vulnerable young woman, still feverishly mired in the creative process. But Shirley’s rage mixes with desire, unpacking marriage (and especially the role of women within) as both a contract and construct. Everything Decker is doing deftly dodges cliches of period films, biopics, and marriage dramas alike, making for an uncommon composed example of each of those genres that simultaneously critiques them. The meta-fictional aspect is subtler here than Madeline, but still fascinating.
Here Decker works with elevated production values without compromising her outré sensibilities. The film swirls into fits of rage, elliptical or mirrored in its chapters to frustrate you and evade your grasp, the soundscape weaving in and out of time and temporality. Decker perches close to her Shirley at monstrous angles with the camera like her co-conspirator, a devil on her shoulder as shot by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen. But the most arresting and discomfiting element comes from the brilliant score by Tamar-kali, threading the emotional truths and tensions of Decker’s intimate portrait to exciting, original effect.
For what seems the first time, Moss, our current resident onscreen madwoman, is playing a woman who is fully aware of that moniker being used against her - but that doesn't mean her Shirley embraces it. Instead, she uses that perception against them to topple their hypocrisies. She’s not mad, you see, she just can’t abide you or what you uphold. Moss overflows like a howling tea kettle steadily emptied and refilled, unleashing caustic wit and resenting vulnerability in unexpected rhythms. Here she somewhat subverts her recent typecast from the inside, but this reminds us that the reason she owns this title is her trademark unpredictability.
Elsewhere, Stuhlbarg makes for an inspired sparring partner, matching Moss’s heights with equally erratic swings of blunt cruelty. We’re left to linger with their complex relationship, warm and toxic in competing measures, an alliance with the power to destroy others if not eachother. After Madeline, another queasy, deceivingly cathartic ending is on the books.
Grade: A-
Shirley is now available on Hulu and VOD!
Reader Comments (22)
Could Moss get in this year,she's building momentum with each film.
so far Best Actress is limited to Elisabeth Moss in The Invisible Man vs Elisabeth Moss in Shirley? lol
We're gonna have reeeaalllly Slim Pickins come Oscar nomination time guys
Elisabeth Moss is one of our greatest working actresses.
I wish there were films from Kathleen Turner, Sigourney Weaver, Glenn Close, etc this year. If ever there were a year for esteemed Oscarless ladies to win this would be it!
Elizabeth moss is a good actor in US but she needs to do better and maybe Shirley is it.
@beyaccount I think there's a universe where both Glen Close and Amy Adams win their Oscars this season for Hillbilly Elegy
I’ve been trying to figure out Stuhlbarg for over a decade now. Irrefutably one of the best actors working today, how does he simultaneously blend into the scenery AND steal the scene?
As a huge Shirley Jackson fan and a fan of Moss and Stulhbarg, I am very much into seeing this. The book this is based upon is quite good too.
Because what's sure to be an atypical awards season ahead, I wouldn't be surprised if some first-halfers like Elisabeth Moss and Julia Garner stay in the conversation far longer than they might in an ordinary year. I'd love to see both make it in!
beyaccount - I think Sigourney might have a chance this year for My Salinger Year.
Has there been any talk of cancelling the Oscars? It doesn't seem appropriate to have a show in February 2021 and "celebrate" anything from 2020.Theaters have been basically empty since March.
It's such a lovely film. Yes, it's a feel-good movie but you are at least given characters you care about as I love that family and I love how the film ended.
Download Typhoon TV APK
Thanks for sharing this valuable information i have learn a lot think thank you.
Thank you for sharing.
Since, all the video substance, including Movies and TV programs, are open to search for free. One of the critical things to recollect is that Syncler APK doesn't pull interfaces subsequently to the application Syncler PC as of not long ago. Thusly, you should deal with it through your Real Debrid account. So the originators of this streaming application have given you an alternate segment in the application to add your Real Debrid account.
Cheats Engine is a memory scanning tool. It allows you to access data stored in your computer's memory and make changes to that data. This allows you to change information in a game, such as health, ammo, score, lives, and the number of things you have in your inventory.
Win every match with Exiled ros Wallhax's Rules of Survival ! Our Undetected RoS hack for PC includes our deadly bone aimbot and ESP cheat. Download it now!
Welcome! Here you will find new Save game Game Save free Files and the best Save Files for your game everyday.
Download Hax4You Loader Updated from the direct download link. No Popups and No Malware.
Download Hax4You Loader Updated from the direct download link. No Popups and No Malware.
Download BeeTV Apk
Update Free on this site
Elizabeth moss is my one of the most favorite actress.
Nowadays, TutuBox is a famous utility. It is one of the exceptional 1/three-birthday party app shops which might be loose to use. If you want an app or undertaking that is not available within the reliable save. You want to go along with a third-birthday celebration app save. In this situation, TutuBox might be the selection for you. Because of the useful features that make it first-rate from different apps. TuTuBox No Jailbreak But if you want to download TutuBox Apk for Android, then make sure it's far to be had for iOS gadgets. But its developers are operating on it and you may definitely get TutuBox Apk to your Android tool quickly.
We’re constantly working to improve our features based on feedback like this, so I’ll be sure to share your request to the API product team.