Review of Gloria Bell

Sebastian Lelió returns to remake one of his own films in this breezy and free-spirited comedy. While not perfect, it's an enjoyable movie that first and foremost functions as a character study. Moore plays the titular role, a divorcee in her 50's living in California and attempting to break out of her shell. The film is properly paced and never feels too long or too short. Its script is simple yet subversive, eventually creating an impact on the viewer that will have them thinking long after the credits roll. The film's acting is consistently strong, especially Julianne Moore. She's terrific, and manages to convey both a genuine sense of intuition and a vivacious sense of loving life at the same time. Also noteworthy is John Tuturro in the film's most prominent supporting part. He manages to play his role with a simple gravitas that helps viewers inspect the subtleties behind his character's development. Speaking of character development, the lack of development of Moore's character by standards of a character study is a slight flaw in this movie. While we spend so much time with Moore over the film's duration and see much of her day-to-day life, this does not necessarily equate to character development. Quality character development, after all, is about connecting the past of a character to his or her present and future.

The film also has some moments that feel mildly redundant from time to time. It feels in these moments that Lelió wanted to connect some of the fibers of the plot together to increase significance of the juxtaposition of several scenes, but unfortunately he ends up missing the mark attempting that. However, this is overall an entertaining dramedy for those of us who like the cast. It's not too complex at face value, but is definitely entertaining for the most part. And the soundtrack (an eclectic mix of classic disco tunes) can't be beat either. Recommended. 7/10