What's Wrong With Virgina

Director: Dustin Lance Black
Writer: Dustin Lance Black
Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Harrison Gilbertson, Ed Harris
Release Date: TBA
Length: 2 hours 15 minutes

Academy award winning screenwriter of Milk, Dustin Lance Black takes on a project all of his own, this time directing as well. Premiering at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, What’s Wrong With Virginia stars the incredible Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris and newcomer Harrison Gilbertson. The film follows  a mentally unstable mother, Virginia (Connelly) and her mature 15-year-old son, Emmett (Gilbertson), who takes care of her in a southern Mormon town. Emmett has always been unsure of who his father is even though there have been speculations that it’s sheriff Dick Tipton (Harris), who his mother still continues to have an affair with, despite him being married. Emmett begins to have a relationship with Dick’s daughter, Jessie (Emma Roberts), which complicates things for the two families. Virginia’s mental disabilities progressively get worse and seem to keep affecting others more and more. This dark, disturbing tale winds us through the scary lives around Virginia in this small religious town. The fact that Dustin Lance Black grew up in a small town definitely helped create the weird and timeless setting of the movie. Although the movie takes place in present day with the way they talk and dress, the Mormon aspect makes the film seem old because of how these people behave. Black’s only two scripts so far have both been filled with tons of raw emotion, distressing deep characters, and a dark unsettling story to tell. He continues to pull every little bit of emotion we, as the audience can endure. He also certainly has a phenomenal cast to work with. Jennifer Connelly certainly nails the crazy down for this character, but that’s not what made me love her performance. She creates a balance of feelings the audience felt toward her. She makes us hate her for being a mindless bad mother and makes us empathize for her situation. She even makes us laugh quite a lot. Connelly embodies this complicated, hard to understand character so well. Another exceptional performance comes from breakout Australian actor, Harrison Gilbertson. Despite Connelly’s performance, Gilbertson carries the movie for me, which I believe his character is supposed to do. He portrays a realistic, smart young man, who has matured quickly from his relationship with his mother, him being more of the parent to her. At the same time however, he is heartbreakingly naïve, innocent and optimistic toward his bleak future. Together Connelly and Gilbertson’s performances are groundbreaking because I never once doubted them as mother and son, as they shared an odd family chemistry on screen. This is a heavy, heavy movie that will take a lot out of you. That may sound uninviting, but that is an emotional affect that doesn’t occur too often in movies anymore. You couldn’t have asked for more from Black on his second film. What’s Wrong With Virginia is a definite must-see.