A blistering drama rich with sharp performances

Rating: 9/10 (19 March 2015)

Writer/director David O. Russell, who first caught my attention with Three Kings hit a bullseye and created his masterpiece with Silver Linings Playbook, a quietly intense, strikingly original, and blistering drama that simultaneously tells a fascinating story and affords the viewer the opportunity to imagine the backstory without ever taking our focus away from what is happening on the screen. I haven't seen anything this original on the screen since Being John Malkovich.
The 2012 film stars Bradley Cooper as Pat Solatano Jr., a former teacher who apparently had a mental/emotional meltdown of such intensity that he lost his job, his ex-wife divorced him and put out a restraining order against him, got banned from the school where he worked, and was committed to a mental institution. As the story unfolds, Pat is being released from the institution, thanks to his mother, after eight months and against medical advice and moves in with his parents, with one mission on his mind and one only: to reconcile with his ex-wife Nikki. Enter Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a friend of a friend of Nikki's, with issues of her own, who is aware of Pat's obsession with Nikki and uses it to her advantage to get what she wants from Pat, which turns out to be more than she thought and is in deep denial about.
Russell's Oscar nominated screenplay based on a novel by Matthew Quick, fascinates because despite the fact that the two lead characters speak without filters and are searingly honest about their feelings, while at the same time, we are never told exactly what happened eight months earlier that actually landed Pat in the institution and I found my imagination running wild trying to imagine exactly what Pat had done. As a matter of fact, as I watching the film at one point, I actually said to myself regarding the character of Pat that this guy speaks without filters and about five minutes later, the character actually said the exact same thing on screen. I loved the fact that even though Pat does speak without filters, he never revealed exactly what he did to land him in his current position and is in complete denial about the fact that Nikki no longer wants anything to do with him.
Russell's direction, which also got him an Oscar nomination, is on the money, particularly in his depiction of the the other characters in Pat's orbit. It was so fascinating to watch the reaction of people in Pat's Philadelphia neighborhood to his return...every time the slightest noise comes from the house, all of the neighbors pop out of their windows to see what's going on. There's a great moment where Pat briefly returns to the school where he taught in an effort to get his job back and we see a teacher literally run into the building in terror when she sees him coming. Again, it forces the viewer to wonder what the hell this guy did that prompted this kind of reaction from a former co- worker. We notice throughout that people are either frightened of Pat or walk on eggshells around him and this is done without dialogue for the most part, and that can only be credited to evocative direction.
Bradley Cooper turned in the performance of his career, that should have won him an Oscar, as Pat, a tragic figure trying to start his life over without really facing the demons of his past and his inability to accept the fact that his ex-wife wants nothing to do with him. Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actress for her explosive Tiffany, a character whose vulnerability is only overshadowed by her unpredictability...you NEVER know what this girl is going to do from one moment to the next and that's what makes the character so fascinating to watch.
Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver also received supporting actor nominations for their performances as Pat's parents, people who are so consumed with love for their son that they too seem to be in denial about the fact that they might have checked Pat out of the institution prematurely. De Niro has rarely been so quietly moving on screen and Weaver is just superb and should have won Best Supporting Actress. Mention should also be made of the performances of John Ortiz and Chris Tucker as friends of Pat from the inside and the outside who support him no matter what. This is the closest thing to an actual human being that Tucker has ever played.
A one-of-a-kind motion picture that will haunt long after the credits roll and demand multiple viewings.