Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) wakes, hungover and soaked in her own urine, next to her stay-at-home husband Charlie (Aaron Paul, TV’s Breaking Bad). As he cooks a greasy breakfast and makes the coffee that will keep her functional for teaching duties, she swills beer in the shower. In her car, she swigs whiskey from a flask, her subsequent energy stemming from the amber liquid. The vomit that soon covers her classroom floor also originates from her morning tipple, in full view of her first-grade students.
Embarrassment and an easy untruth follow, as does another night of the same. Yet soon, Kate is cognisant of her constant intoxication, contemplating life away from alcohol’s comforting embrace. With the assistance of a sympathetic colleague (Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation) and a dedicated sponsor (Octavia Spencer, The Help), she pursues sobriety and the harsh truths that it brings. Twelve steps may help quell her battle with the bottle, but they amplify the issues with her marriage.
James Ponsoldt’s Smashed charts Kate’s trying transition from booze-induced recklessness to sombre responsibility. And while the filmmaker (Off the Black) and his co-writer Susan Burke tap into the rich vein of alcoholism dramas that include The Lost Weekend, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Leaving Las Vegas and Withnail and I, while also adhering to the familiar rehabilitation, relapse and recovery formula, they do so without the usual overwrought trappings of the genre. Instead, optimism accompanies Kate’s darkest actions, and an honest humour infuses her efforts to live an authentic life.
The quiet and graceful depiction of the downward-spiralling protagonist also possesses a nuance and naturalism not always seen with the topic. In her Independent Spirit Award-nominated performance, Winstead proves the trump card; abandoning her action (The Thing), comedy (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and horror (Final Destination 3) roots, she has never been better than in her uncompromising, committed portrayal of a woman searching for her own brand of normal – nor more courageous and vulnerable.
Paul, Offerman and Spencer are also in fine form, offering suitably sympathetic, awkward and sturdy support in turn. Their involving efforts are amplified by Winstead’s magnetic presence, the script’s innate understanding of the ugly minutiae of alcoholism, and Ponsoldt’s appropriately jittery, aptly rose-tinted imagery. Humanity infiltrates every poignant exchange, just as the film’s sincerity adds resonance. Accordingly, Smashed proves a sweet yet unsentimental view of liquor-fuelled life, complete with its challenges and consequences.
Rating: 4
Smashed
Director: James Ponsoldt
USA, 2012, 81 min
Screening as part of Perth Festival’s Lotterywest film program
www.perthfestival.com.au
25 November – 14 April
Rated: MA
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