we all need an education.

Good morning! I hope you guys all had great weekends.  I was pretty busy but I managed to see one new film, An Education (Scherfig, 2009).  Based on Lynn Barber's memoir, the movie tells a coming-of-age story of a teen girl, Jenny, living in the suburbs of London in the 1960s.  As a smart, intelligent girl she seems to have a bright future ahead of her, but her life changes after meeting an older playboy who is nearly twice her age.

This is certainly a talent-driven drama and both Peter Sarsgaard and newbie Carey Mulligan deliver fabulous performances.  I think this film will certainly help launch Mulligan's acting career (especially if it lands her an Oscar-nom).  She was perfectly cast as young Jenny, a girl exploring her own desires and learning who she is.  "Mulligan is the film's headline, pulse and revelation," wrote TIME Magazine's Richard Corliss.  "In its blithely subversive way, her starmaking performing is a co-conspirator with the movie.  Both of them win you over with smart talk and pretty feelings, then kick you in the heart."

The film currently has an impressive 93% on Rotten Tomato and has received rave reviews.  In fact, Oscar buzz is already circulating.  Caludia Pulg of USA Today called the story "fresh and thoroughly captivating," while LA Time's Kenneth Turan said it was "invariably funny and inexpressibly moving."  Overall, this was a great story that examined women's roles in the world of the 1960s.  I thought the ending could have been slightly stronger, but this is a minor complaint.  Don't miss this one!