{"id":21355,"date":"2020-09-29T13:54:49","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T20:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=21355"},"modified":"2020-09-29T13:54:49","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T20:54:49","slug":"the-glorias-is-a-solid-but-surface-level-biopic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=21355","title":{"rendered":"THE GLORIAS is a Solid But Surface-Level Biopic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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THE GLORIAS is\u00a0available for purchase on Digital and Streaming exclusively on Prime Video starting September 30th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gloria Steinem has lived a remarkable life as a journalist, activist and a spokesperson for the feminist movement in the United States. Her incredible accomplishments serve as the inspiration for this new biopic. The Glorias<\/em> attempts to condense the woman\u2019s many pursuits and experiences into one narrative. There\u2019s a lot of passion on display, and for youngsters the film should serve as a stirring introduction to her work. It\u2019s a good film overall, although it ultimately feels like a surface-level examination of its subject that could have reached even greater heights had it been willing to dig a little deeper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Based on Steinem\u2019s own autobiography, the feature intercuts important experiences at four particular ages in her life (played, from youngest to oldest, by Ryan Kira Armstrong, Lulu Wilson, Alicia Vikander and Julianne Moore). In her early years, we see Steinem\u2019s family life and the influence of her mother (Enid Graham), who was a writer, as well as her father (Timothy Hutton), a huckster of sorts who may have fostered a streak of adventure in the young woman. As expected, more time is spent with the college-age Steinem traveling the world and making her start as a journalist in a male-dominated world, and then her time as an adult fighting for feminist causes. As the story progresses, the four individual Glorias appear together on a bus, interviewing each other about their various choices in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cast are excellent and despite the jumping around\nbetween various time periods, the overall performance feels unified and consistent\nthroughout, despite four different performers playing the same role. While most\nknow about Steinem\u2019s public life, it is interesting to see the figure\u2019s\nrelationship with her eccentric parents. Of course, the beginnings of her\ncareer are also intriguing as we witness the hardships faced in getting her\nwork taken seriously by male editors, and her successes, including a piece\ngoing undercover to detail the less-than-glamorous life of a Playboy bunny. As\nthe picture progresses, we also see her develop a talent for public speaking\nand her personal relationships with important feminist figures like Dorothy\nPitman Hughes (Janelle Mon\u00e1e) and Bella Abzug (Bette Midler).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are interesting moments and scenes throughout that\ngenerally help viewers get a broader sense of Steinem\u2019s many accomplishments. And\non a technical level, there are some effective transitions as the movie jumps\nfrom one era to another and back again. Yet while the technique works in some\ninstances, there are other elements that do take one out of the proceedings.\nThe increasing focus on the four different Steinem ladies on a bus interacting\nand cracking jokes feels forced. On a technical level, the heavy green screen work\nin these scenes and the occasional use of surreal dream-like imagery to depict\ninner turmoil stand out in a negative way and distract from the\nproceedings.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film also has an overly glossy appearance. This stylized approach might not have been the best tactic, considering the story is about a character trying to connect with all women from different backgrounds. A grittier look would have added more authenticity to the proceedings. And of course, it\u2019s tough to get very deep into Steinem when the story itself is based on the figure\u2019s personal perception of her own experiences. There is a scene when the older protagonist appears on The Larry King Show<\/em> and is verbally attacked by a caller. While she brushes off the experience on air, you can still see a pang of sadness and pain in the hurtful comments. This is a powerful moment and one wished that the movie had dealt with its lead enduring these kinds of trials.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie isn\u2019t a prize-winning effort and given its already\nextended running time, likely should have delved even further into the mind of\nits subject. Still, The Glorias<\/em> does have strong individual moments, and\nfor anyone not familiar with its subject, does serve as a decent if somewhat\nsuperficial entry point at a very important figure in modern history. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE GLORIAS is\u00a0available for purchase on Digital and Streaming exclusively on Prime Video starting September 30th. Gloria Steinem has lived a remarkable life as a journalist, activist and a spokesperson for the feminist movement in the United States. Her incredible accomplishments serve as the inspiration for this new biopic. The Glorias attempts to condense the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,1046,2628,2787,2789,6251,7481,8395,10312,11148,20813,20814,20815,20816,22923],"class_list":["post-21355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-alicia-vikander","tag-bette-midler","tag-biography","tag-biopic","tag-drama","tag-feminist","tag-gloria-steinem","tag-janelle-monae","tag-julianne-moore","tag-the-glorias","tag-the-glorias-film-review","tag-the-glorias-movie-review","tag-the-glorias-review","tag-timothy-hutton"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}