Albert Nobbs (2011)

I loved this story of an inhibited cross-dressing woman working as a hotel waiter in 1890s Dublin and Jack liked it, too. Glenn Close obtained the rights to the story after starring in it onstage in 1982, and she not only gives the performance of a lifetime and produces, she co-wrote the screenplay and the lyrics to a song sung over the end credits by Sinead O'Connor. Close has been nominated for six Oscars: The World According to Garp (1982), The Big Chill (1983), The Natural (1984), Fatal Attraction (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), and now this, for which she lost the SAG, Critics' Choice, and Golden Globe Awards (her song lost the Globe to Madonna's and the Best Makeup Oscar (watch this featurette) will probably not be won here, but by The Iron Lady). Here is a link to my list of movie awards and nominations sorted by title. In addition to her Oscar-nominated work, I also liked Close a lot in Jagged Edge (1990), Reversal of Fortune (1990), The Paper (1994), 101 Dalmatians (1996), Cookie's Fortune (1999), The Safety of Objects (2001), and Nine Lives (2005), the latter of which shares a director, Rodrigo García, with Albert Nobbs. I covered García in detail in Mother and Child, but didn't realize at the time that he is the son of Colombian author Gabriel García Marquez.

6'1" Janet McTeer's (I quite liked her in Songcatcher (2000)) performance is also amazing and is nominated for a Supporting Actress Oscar. Fine support is provided by Mia Wasikowska (last seen in these pages as Annabel in Restless), Pauline Collins (Cristal in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), Maria Doyle Kennedy (from The Commitments (1991) to Dexter), Brendan Gleeson (Gerry Doyle in The Guard), and Aaron Johnson (John Lennon in Nowhere Boy), among others.

On a timely note, because I wanted to watch the SAG Awards tonight before writing this, just in case Close won, I remembered to check my DVR at 8:15 and, because it hates me and once again didn't follow my instructions, I manually started the recording then. I'm going to have to find a recording later of the "I am an actor" speeches.

The music, by Irish composer Brian Byrne, is lovely. You can listen to this soundtrack compilation, or go to this link, click open in iTunes, and hear longer samples by clicking them one at a time.

Our local freelance newspaper critic trashed this movie, and rottentomatoes agrees, with critics weighing in at 51% and audiences even lower at 46%. This time I'll include metacritic, which gives it 57% critics and 51 from audiences. We don't concur. We think it's good and you should see it.