the perfection that was meryl in kramer vs kramer

(of course she is perfect in all her monumental films such as the french lieutenant's woman, sophie's choice, up to her latest margaret thatcher role, but i always look back to her kramer vs kramer's lonely wife joanna as one of her best works to date.)

from the opening scene, to the court room, up to the last scene that showed her going up the elevator to talk to her son, meryl streep was flawless in kramer vs kramer. she was so beautiful, enchanting, engrossing, captivating, you can't keep your eyes off from her.
even in her quiet moments, when she was just watching her son from afar, or silently reacting to what was being said in the court room, meryl was in her character, down to her luminous hair.

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it's really the mark of a truly gifted artist that meryl's character stays with you even if she appeared just in the few but key scenes of the movie. even if she's off the screen,  you still feel her presence. (no chos this time!)

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every time i feel blue, i always make it a point to read a favourite book (one hundred years of solitude or the poems by rilke) or watch a terrific movie (before sunrise/sunset, age of innocence, reality bites, among others) and kramer vs kramer is always top of my list.
it never fails to make me cry. the relationship between dustin hoffman and his son (dustin and the child actor who played his son, justin henry, were both terrific in this film) was so touching, so poignant that the thought of them being torn apart was simply unbearable. chos!

watch and weep!
we all need to be reminded what a beautiful and engaging film is all about from time to time.

*****

i wonder what happened to the child actor, justin henry? (he was also in the molly ringwald filmd sixteen candles, by the way). i hope he grew up to be such an amazing actor lyk meryl and dustin.

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here's the trailer:

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one of my favourite scenes:

(the "daddy it's burning, it's burning" had stayed with me ever since i first watched this when i was, i think, ten or eleven.)