ALBERT NOBBS

Albert Nobbs - Every time I saw a preview of this Glenn Close movie about a woman who has always lived as a man, something about it called to me. Now that I've seen it, I can recommend that you avoid the siren call, unless it's free and you have nothing else compelling to watch and you enjoy the English Lord of the Manor movie genre. The story is good enough, and even though I fell asleep in the middle of the movie, I woke up and was able to stay awake until the end. Glenn Close might have had her eyes done with botox for all the emotion she lets Albert express. Expressionless unblinking eyes plus no conversation with anyone save a "yes ma'am", do not make for a watchable movie. The rest of the characters do oblige, however, the movie is titled Albert Nobbs, so we want a little more out of Albert than we get; even when Albert does get animated for a couple of weird seconds, it's creepy. And unless it happened while I was asleep, we never learn how Albert got to be that way. (Although come to think of it, they must have explained that at some point, right?) But I don't care; for me, it wasn't worth the two dollars rental, and it's only worth free if you like the English movies.