7.5/10
The Sessions is a good movie that deserves a better marketing ploy - the word "triumphant" is plastered all over posters and trailers and the phrase "the festival success of the year!" only invites irritation. John Hawkes is quickly building a reputation for remarkable consistency and Mark O'Brien is certainly his most challenging and accomplished role to date. A story like The Sessions (a true story, incidentally) seems ripe for Oscar mawkishness and histrionics, but I give a lot of credit to writer/director Ben Lewin for avoiding those pratfalls. The film is surprisingly comedic, which makes up for its rather rote direction. It also deserves credit for impressively detailing all of its minor characters - even those with little screen time feel integral and human. The movie was a little too frenetic at times - with cuts jumping around and narration coming and going, it could have benefitted (and I rarely say this) from a longer running time as it did feel a little rushed and, well, jumpy. Overall though it's a likeable movie with very good performances, an emotional resonance and a surprising amount of laughs.
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