36 Hours (1953)

A watchable drama
This film is not perfect and was mundane at times. But it also had its great moments. Nicole Kidman was great in an almost unrecognizable role. She deserved her oscar. Julianne Moore's story line was perhaps the weakest and more boring, but she did a fine job. Meryl Streep is perfect, as always. It is definetetly woth a viewing.

AMAZING
This is one of my all time favorite movies. The performances from Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep are amazing, and Nicole Kidman stands out as one of the greatest actresses of all time. The direction is fantastic, the music superb and the story intense. YOU WILL LOVE IT!

On (mind) Liberty

Each day is connected through hours of momentums; and our non-stop thinking ushers our play. Writing-and-reading becomes an emblem to bridge these 3 women from time and space, and the story runs through a stream of their consciousness in a time warp, and a character twist (addendum).

There are 3 middle-aged women: Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) in 1928, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) in 1951, and Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) in 2001. They each encounter stress in life, and what is hidden is an emergence of independence as we follow the characters' lives through progressive eras.

A culmination of this film is several kissing scenes: Virginia and her sister Vanessa, Laura and her neighbor, Clarissa and Richard. The kissing, different from a sensual affection, expresses outwardly how the compassion and the appreciation are released from the one who is going through a mind-remodeling. These scenes are suppressing and passionate at the same time.

I cannot argue that this film is a tad dark and tense to an emotional sense, but a good drama with layers.
Life in part is like the flowers Clarissa uses to celebrate the party. It conveys a sense of transient beauty; time peters out, we each live in hours, critical moments of life and try to enjoy with a content from the very bottom of all our senses and decisions.

Addendum:
The story links 3 women who are related to Woolf's novel, even including Woolf herself.
Virginia Woolf was engaging a novel "Mrs. Dalloway," which was read later by Laura Brown, a mother who eagers freedom herself. Clarissa resembles a modern variation of Mrs. Dalloway is a lesbian plans a party for her ex-lover-and-AIDS-poet, Richard.
Virginia and her illness can relate to Richard and his AIDS. Laura shares a character combination of Clarissa and Virginia, both strong and weak. Clarissa's care for Richard is similar to Virginia's husband, Leonard.
In a sense, it proposes metaphysically that we are poly-characters, with several shadows projected from different spotlights.