An Education

"An Education" was directed by Lone Scherfig. It stars Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, and Emma Thompson. "An Education" is one of the 10 Best Picture Nominees at the 82nd Academy Awards. The movie also got nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Carey Mulligan got a Best Actress nomination.

The movie takes place in England in 1961. Jenny Miller (Carey Mulligan) is 16 years old and plans on attending college at Oxford University. One day David Goldman (Peter Sarsgaard), a man roughly twice her age, comes along and everything changes. They begin a romantic relationship and he shows her such luxuries as concerts and going to Paris. Throughout this period in her life, Jenny learns a ridiculous amount of things...some of them more enjoyable than others. The title has at least two meanings that I can think of...

Carey Mulligan earned her Oscar nomination. She won't win because I'm assuming Sandra Bullock will win...even though she claims she won't..oh, Sandra Bullock.... But at least Carey Mulligan can say that she earned it. I had not heard of her before this movie came out, which makes sense because she has only been in a couple movies and this is her first starring role. She makes the character of Jenny believable as she matures and just learns from the experiences she is thrust into. She shows several emotions and gives her character depth, playing it all very convincingly. She even has some chemistry with Peter Sarsgaard...although every so often their relationship comes off as kind of strange and gross...which is actually a pretty legitimate comment. He is also great in his role...just not great enough to warrent a Oscar nomination. Alfred Molina as Jenny's father was a nice change from his role in "Spiderman 2"...the only other movie I have to judge him in...great actor. And although Emma Thompson was only in three small scenes, she was fantastic in this movie as the headmistress at Jenny's school. She worked so well with Carey Mulligan in those scenes as she talks to Jenny about college and her future and the affect that David could have on it.

The movie looks beautiful. The sets and everything were successful in conveying the 1960s time period. There are some great shots of various parts of England and France. The cinematography, which included various parts of certain scenes out of focus, aerial views of buildings, and general impressive composition and lighting, makes the movie extremely visually appealing.

The story is compelling throughout the duration of the film. The dialogue between the cast is well written and feels natural.

So as of now I have seen all 10 of the Best Picture nominees. And "An Education" is not going win Best Picture...because if the Academy has any idea what they are doing either "Precious" or "Up in the Air" is going to win. Or they could be ridiculous and give the award to "Avatar" which would be horrible because it's not Best Picture quality. At that point the Academy can no longer be trusted. I guess I should get back to "An Education" and stop ranting. The movie visually looked great and the actors all gave great performances. The script and whatever the heck else going into making a great, well made movie is present here. I would recommend it, but it might not be the kind of movie for some people. It doesn't really have mass appeal and is pretty artistic...4 out of 4 stars...

-Joseph Sbrilli