GRANDMA (2015)

Paul Weitz’s film from an original screenplay that he wrote is special in that it provides Lily Tomlin with the best role she’s had in years as a misanthropic college professor and successful poet who is given an opportunity in helping her granddaughter deal with her sudden pregnancy and getting an abortion. However one may feel about the abortion issue, this is a situation that happens all too often in the world today and is dealt with in a very worldly and at times disturbing way. Unlike JUNO, the film where the central character decides against an abortion, this is not the case here and I’m sure many folks including myself will find themselves disappointed that the filmmaker decided to take this path. However, the character played by Sam Elliott in a career defining performance, refuses to help his former wife, played by Ms. Tomlin, because she aborted his baby while they’d been married. This scene showed the tragic consequences abortion can have on the man as well, particularly since he was not even made aware of it until after the fact. One thing can be assured is that Ms. Tomlin and Mr. Elliott will be nominated for Academy Awards (Lily for Best Actress and Sam for Best Supporting Actor). The revelation here is that you are seeing a side of these two actors that they've rarely shown before, and in Mr. Elliott’s case this is remarkable because he is only in the film for about fifteen minutes.