Amour

          This drama is about an elderly couple that experiences tragedy after the wife has a health attack. Now she is paralyzed on one side and her eighty-something-year-old husband is left to care for her. Here in America, this is in French with English subtitles. If that makes you apprehensive to go see it, don't be. It was my first time watching a movie that way in theaters, and the actors could have been speaking English for all I know; I wasn't distracted from the movie at all, and the words were on the screen for the perfect amount of time for a slow reader like me. Anyway, this movie depicts the deterioration of life in such a beautiful way. Michael Haneke, the writer-director, does a great job using the camera to tell this beautiful tale rather than distract from it with big-budget tricks. This makes the cinematography reminiscent of The King's Speech, with about a fourth of the budget. The cinematography had a simple elegance to it, but I would be disappointed to see it beat Robert Richardson at the Oscars (overall I wish Moonrise Kingdom would win Best Cinematography, but unfortunately it is not even nominated for it). The element of surprise is evident a few different times, which I was not expecting (hence the word "surprise"). My companions and I were ready to break out the tissues, but this really is not a cry fest. Like one of my readers said, the plot flows in a "surgical" way (I think the way he said it was "surgical rather than emotional," correct me if I'm wrong), meaning that you never really have to break out the tissues at the end because the damage has already been done painfully throughout the whole length of the movie. This is a movie that makes you think, which sort of replaces the expected excessive crying. Totally and completely worth seeing if you have a respect for serious movies (don't worry; there's some comedy in it, too). Definitely deserves Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. Emmanuelle Riva was good, but I don't think the deserves Best Actress alongside her fellow nominees. Feel free to disagree; comment below! I value your opinion.