The Kids Are All Right (2010)

A really well-done portrait of a modern marriage. They happen to be two women but that is almost beside the point. It's one of the best lived-in movies I've seen in ages. Meaning, the characters feel like they've been a family forever, long before we as the audience came in. What's funny is that it took me a while to get into this movie. I was enjoying it, I wasn't bored, but I was having some problems with the character choices, and I was a little annoyed by the Boho California attitude of it all. But about three quarters of the way through (it's the dinner party scene with Joni Mitchell) the movie started to emotionally click and it totally had me for the rest of it. I even cried a little.

Not surprisingly, this is an acting masterclass. Julianne Moore and Annette Bening are both really really good, and Mia Wasikowska (and this is not a surprise to anyone who saw the first season of In Treatment) is a spooky good actress.

One more thing: this was not really the movie I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a comedic, quirky indie film about an alternative family. It's darker than that, and deeper.