Marriage Story

This is the acting powerhouse to beat this awards season - telling the story of a couple who are divorcing and how their best intentions to keep things gentle and well mannered for the sake of raising their kid together slowly fall apart as the things that broke them up in the first place start to bubble over. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are both simply outstanding as the couple in question, as they start to delve deeper into their desires and their emotional fragility, and tear into both themselves and each other. As the various lawyers,  Laura Dern, Alan Alda and Ray Liotta all have great moments to shine, and there's terrific support particularly from Julie Hagerty as Johhansson's mother. If I wanted to issue minor criticisms it would be that Randy Newman's score is occasionally a little intrusive, and the representation of New York's avant-garde theatre community is a little odd, but ... this comes together so well it feels petty to bitch.