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Hateship Loveship | 3/5

SINGAPORE — Based on Alice Munro’s short story Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Liza Johnson’s indie drama-comedy shows a side of Kristen Wiig that, deep down, all of us Saturday Night Live fans knew: Underneath her pitch perfect comedic prowess lies a dramatic serious actress.

Kristen Wiig and Guy Pearce in Hateship Loveship

Kristen Wiig and Guy Pearce in Hateship Loveship

SINGAPORE — Based on Alice Munro’s short story Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Liza Johnson’s indie drama-comedy shows a side of Kristen Wiig that, deep down, all of us Saturday Night Live fans knew: Underneath her pitch perfect comedic prowess lies a dramatic serious actress.

She plays Johanna, a colourless, cautious housekeeper for old Mr McCauley (Nick Nolte), who looks after his sullen teenage granddaughter Sabitha (True Grit’s Hailee Steinnfeld) and eventually falls in love with Sabitha’s charming ex-con druggie father (Guy Pearce). Johanna is hard to love, a maddeningly mute character who won’t open her mouth to set things straight. Despite this, Wiig remains intriguingly watchable, delivering a remarkably subtle and elusive portrait of a shy, recessive but ultimately unsinkable woman entirely free of self-pity.

Sure, you wished director Johnson could have allowed Wiig some room for more spark and personality as her character slowly blossoms, especially given Wiig’s tremendous capacity to evoke humour in the most benign of situations. But all is forgiven when you slowly realise that the story takes you to unexpected places and you encounter genuinely surprising reversals. Though not everything in Mark Poirier’s script feels organic or convincing, Johnson does have a sincere, authentic and empathetic handle on all her players. Kudos must be given to the very affecting performances of Steinnfeld and Pearce, who elevate the entire movie from simply being an understated progression of incidents. Thanks to the cast, the important parts work as intended even if the picture doesn’t quite add up to anything overly dramatic in the end. And that is a good thing.

(M18,102 mins)

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