Away from Her

Sarah Polley's first feature film is a superbly performed, sensitively adapted and emotionally potent adaptation of an Alice Munro story about a long-married couple (Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent) whose relationship is both corroded and clarified by the intrusion of Alzheimer's. Showing both assurance and maturity in handling the film's wrenching material — which needs no nudging and gets none — Polley arrives on the feature filmmaking front ready to kick some ass.