Ordinary People (1980)

Title: Ordinary People
Director: Robert Redford
Genre: Drama
Highs: Timothy Hutton as a depressed teen
Lows: Mary Tyler Moore reminding me of my mother-in-law
RhynoBot Grade: A

This film is Robert Redford's directorial debut and really what a great way to start. Redford is able to get spectacular performances from every single contributor to this film and it pays off with four Academy Awards for Best Director, Picture, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actor for Timothy Hutton, plus a nomination for Mary Tyler Moore.

The basic premise of the film is a family trying to cope with the death of the eldest son. Each family member deals with the grief differently manifesting itself as suicidal depression for the youngest son (Hutton), the over pleasing father (Donald Sutherland), and the emotionally cold and withdrawn mother (Moore). The supporting cast included Judd Hirsch as the psychiatrist and Elizabeth McGovern as the nervous love interest to Hutton, both played very convincing roles.

Realism is a key factor for why this movie works so well. Early in the film we see Hutton out of sorts, tired looking, but as the movie progresses and he begins to let go and accept his brothers death we see a marked changed in appearance and mood. As an interesting side note, I achieved a minor in psychology in college. We actually studied portion of this film in my Abnormal Behavior class as a visual description of suicidal depression and co-dependency.

I really only have one problem with this film and it has nothing to do with the actors, director, or story but has everything to do with Moore's character. Moore's character is a east coast socialite that feels the compulsion to put on a happy face in front of others regardless of deep emotional problems surrounding her family. She is loveless to Hutton's character (all her love was focus on the eldest son), self-center, manipulative, and accusatory (nothing is ever her fault). Urgh - she reminds me way too much of my mother-in-law. In that sense it's a shame Moore didn't win the Academy Award because she did a great job portraying this character (at least I certainly hope she was acting).

This is a great movie, you should really see it.