After Adventureland, I decided I needed to check out some more Kristen Stewart films to verify whether she was as good of an actress as I thought. Well, if this film is anything to go by, she is going to be the actress of her generation.The Cake Eaters is a family drama about the intersecting lives of two families. The measured revelation of secrets and lies and hopes and desires is expertly done. The pace may be a bit slow, but it is definitely compelling.
Although the story is an ensemble drama about various members of the two families, Stewart stole the show as a terminally ill fifteen-year-old girl with Friedreich's ataxia, a disease that ravishes her nervous system, slurring her speech and making her movements jerky. Watching her performance, you would think that she was truly affilicted with this disease in reality if you didn't know better. Her performance is not a mockery of the condition—it is incredibly sympathetic. Her quest to live a full life in the very short time she has left is beautiful beyond words.
It's hard to describe how powerful this film is. Even if you're not from a poor, rural family, it would be hard to watch this without feeling it touch something in your heart.
Rating: 4.0
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