Long Day's Journey into Night (1962)
Director: Sidney Lumet
Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson, Jason Robards
Synopsis:
A dysfunctional family clashes over drug addiction, alcoholism, and other issues.
Impressions:
I became a bit of a fan of Eugene O'Neill back when I was in high school, so that provided a little extra motivation to give this film a shot. It's a really powerful, strongly acted movie, a great character study, but it's depressing as all get out. You might find Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson and even Jason Robards to be overacting a bit, making it a little too stagey and theatrical, but it's thematically appropriate. It actually makes Dean Stockwell's straighter performance feel that much more genuine. By the by, this is one of the first younger roles I've seen for Dean Stockwell and it's interesting seeing what he was like back when he was in his 20s. The sort of clashes we see here remind me a bit of The Lion in Winter and A Bill of Divorcement (both coincidentally Katharine Hepburn vehicles). If you're conflict-averse, this can be rough viewing, but it's worth seeing in my book. Give it a watch.
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