eye-opening and entertaining expose of mental illness

Rating: 7/10 (31 December 2013)

Generally, this film is a romantic drama, confronting mental issues sympathetically and with some humour but keeping the poignancy of the subject. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are the stars and rule the screen together with great chemistry and physicality. Robert de Niro was also (unsurprisingly) brilliant, depicting Pat (Cooper's) father - suffering with some mental issues himself and creating an unstable environment for a young man with vulnerability having just come out of a mental hospital. Jennifer Lawrence, also amazed by her acting skill; great range, as did Cooper. Portraying someone with bipolar or erratic behaviours is difficult to change posture and expression on the drop of a coin and these two actors did very well.
The story is complex, gripping, nerve-wracking and quite complex. The story isn't spelled out and is revealed in the narrative and through the occasional flash backs. The scenes are a little choppy, certainly at first, but this probably is a technique to speed up the opening part of the film. The cinematography is plainly shot, with no surprises, and I think that it could have used some more artistic styles or variation. The language in the film was quite bad, given that I was watching with someone who was sensitive to that, but it wasn't entirely unnecessary in that it fit with the characters and the narrative. The story itself took in mental illness, love, disappointment, familial dysfunction, gambling issues, bereavement and is wonderful, uplifting and very interesting but sometimes worrying and uncomfortable to watch.
I can see why this got lots of awards, including Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar, given the range of the actors and the complexity of their characters. Whilst it was brilliant, I wouldn't recommend it to everyone but will certainly vouch for how good it is! A fantastic character led drama with a touching love theme.