'Act One' Review: Sophia Takal's Psychodrama Explores the Madness of Aspiring Actors
By
Guy Lodge
Toasted golden, schmeared with insight. Top of the rack.
Summary
Sophia Takal's 'Act One' is an archly heightened psychodrama starring Ari Graynor as an obsessive acting coach and Ella Beatty as her malleable teenage student. The film explores the hunger, anxiety, and potential madness of aspiring actors who desperately want to transform into someone else. The review highlights the film's eerily askew, drily funny tone and its examination of the earnest desire for artistic transformation.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledHow far would you go for a woman who claims with a straight face to be 'endeavoring to bring about a change in consciousness through our art?'
Most people are not actors, or even aspiring actors, and Sophia Takal's eerily askew, drily funny 'Act One' thrives on the hunger and anxiety and potential madness of those with an earnest desire to become someone else, before a crowd, for at least a moment in time.
Ella Beatty is the malleable teenage student to Ari Graynor's obsessive acting coach in Sophia Takal's archly heightened psychodrama 'Act One.'
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