Open Letters Monthly: The Sessions

Right now the Best Actor category is getting a little crowded. Modern-day legends Daniel Day-Lewis, Denzel Washington and Anthony Hopkins are all but guaranteed three of the five slots for Best Actor when nominations are announced next month, and a slew of named actors that includes Joaquin Phoenix, Hugh Jackman, Bradley Cooper, Richard Gere and Bill Murray will be competing for the final two. One actor that might have an inside shot is John Hawkes, the recent indie sensation who also pulled in a Best Supporting nod two years ago for Winter's Bone.

In The Sessions, Hawkes plays real-life journalist and poet Mark O'Brien, who contracted polio at a young age and spent most of his adult life stuck in an iron lung. While researching for an article on sexuality and the disabled, Mark decides to see a sex therapist in order to lose his virginity. A romantic, he also hopes that God will help him discover a woman who will love him for the man he is, and not pity him for not being able to move anything below his neck.

The Sessions is directed by Ben Lewin and stars John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, Moon Bloodgood and William H. Macy.

Click here for the full review at Open Letters Monthly.