This week's review/podcast will certainly be The International because I just saw it and there's lots to talk about.
More later but I will say, it's not the movie you think it is (or the way they're marketing it) but I'm quite confident it's better than you expect.
*minor spoiler*
There's a lot of nice, old school touches displaying a smart approach to spycraft and police work.
I'll just point out one amusing moment. In horror movies, audiences are often given a jolt, a fake scare when a cat jumps out of some room where the killer is expected.
There are no cats here, but there's a great bit around gunfight where a cellphone is the source of surprise. It's frightening and funny at the same time quite believable. A nice little grace note and one of many. Could cellphones replace cats as the new scare cliche? I wonder.
There have been a lot of glowing reviews of Frost/Nixon
So there the are above, the real deal Tricky Dick and the movie version. You can judge the veracity for yourself. If I had to sum up my thoughts I'd say Frost/Nixon is an average Little Guy vs the Machine / Hollywood period piece. But in the final half hour the movie delivers what you came for with a riveting clash of titans. Two egos, both putting everything on the line. Both desperate to come out on top.
Peter Morgan who gave us the movie The Queen wrote the play and screenplay. So you expect this to be top rate quality. I guess where I was disappointed is with all the work that comes before the final show down.
Michael Sheen does a fine job playing the TV star Frost. In fact after seeing him do Tony Blair and this...I'm ready for something original. (Oh, look he's playing The Cheshire Cat in Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland.)
But my issue isn't with the actors but rather the arc of the story.
The movie sets the stakes early. Nixon's looking for way back to put Watergate behind him.
Frost just is fascinated by the downfall of the president and sees an opportunity. But he's a fluffy talk show guy. And a Brit. And so we get the real meat of the movie. The scheme.
Frost spends all his time running around raising cash to pay for the Nixon interview and wooing sponsors. In the meantime he's assembled crack team of Nixon-haters to help him crucify the Pres. Sam Rockwell and Oliver Platt play the academic and the journalist. They cram with Frost's producer while Frost jets around getting cash, attending movie openings etc.
So you see where this is going, for the middle of the film, not exactly ground breaking cinema.
And to make things worse Ron Howard, the invisible man of directors if there ever was one, is on autopilot. So we get Class-A Hollywood cliches. The montages of the team training, cramming over books, drinking, laughing and cramming some more.
The Nixon interviews are in segments, spread out over a number of days. The first one is a disaster. And we all know it's going to come down to that one crucial interview. The last shot and the only interview where Watergate was the agreed upon topic.
It's a long road getting to those final fireworks. But is it worth it. The reason I put the youtube clips up there is to burst another bubble that's being said about Frost/Nixon.
Yes Frank Langella does a fantastic job. But I don't think he nails Nixon. He looks off, his manner a little too easy going. I don't even find the voice that close. But that's okay. I'm not looking for a photocopy. I want the essence . And what Frank gives us is a sense of the dangerous gravity of someone LIKE Nixon. Frank's character is the smoothest of smooth operators. You get that a sense of the pull, a personality like a tractor beam that all successful politicians have. It's a fantastic turn. Not a perfect imitation, but better in a way because it fleshes out Nixon's faults. Like dissecting and pinning a frog in biology class so we can see it for what it is.
And that applies to those final moments too. Let me say, when Watergate happened I was still in diapers. But of course the first thing I did after seeing the movie was check out the actual Frost/Nixon interview on youtube. At first I was almost disappointed. The real deal seemed flat by comparison.
But again that's the beauty of those final moments on film. Writer Peter Morgan has compressed much, but he also magnifies certain moments. Zooming in on those questions when Nixon's answer, or even his reaction before he answered said so much. There's one moment, where you see Frank Langella go through two maybe three different emotions before he even starts speaking. You wont find them in the actual interviews. But it's a great moment on film.
So i saw MILK, the movie about gay activist Harvey Milk today. It’s an amazing film, total Oscar bait, a powerful political story lead by Sean Penn who must be one of the finest actors in his generation.
I had some reservations about having a well known straight actor take on such a flamboyant role, but he goes at it with gusto. Like any good movie about politics Milk sucks you in, into Milk’s cause, into his world, his fight. It isn’t just a “gay story” but a universal fight for rights, a David vs Goliath situation told artfully by Gus Van Sant.
Here Milk starts with Harvey sitting a table in 1975 speaking into a cassette player. He’s recording a tape to played in the event of his death. A nice screenwriters trick to help set up the story? Sure. But it's a plausible one because as Milk explains he's in a dangerous fight. Gay rights weren't taken for granted back then. Even in San Fransisco Milk was angering the establishment. The taped speech works as a linking device. It sets the stakes and gives Milk way to explain just what they were fighting for, while also reminding us he’s living on borrow time.
We know from the opening frame Milk will be murdered. Near the end of the movie it becomes clear who will do it.
But the act, the final confrontation is done with about as much poetry and grace such a heinous act can handle. I wont go into specifics, but (again spoiler) after the shot we see a beautiful tableau. A side profile of Harvey Milk. Frozen for a moment. Then he falls, against a window looking outside the City Hall. Across the street he sees the posters for the opera Tosca. Milk a long time opera fan just took in his first performance. With the reflection of the Tosca's tragic hero in his eyes, Milks takes his bow.
My description does damage to the moment on film, but it’s a beaut.
I saw the French film I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) earlier today.
It stars Kristin Scott-Thomas as an ex-convict reunited with her younger sister. There's two cliches in this film. On the meta level the plot is a bit of a cliche... another story about a character who has a secret, a secret you must wait until the last moments of the film to learn. Entirely the case here, although in I didn't mind. But a more annoying cliche presents itself at the end of the film. (minor spoiler.)
It's the cliche of repeated dialogue. Screenwriters love to have characters repeat certain phrases to underscore importance of the moment. "I'm going home. Going. Home." Nineteen times out of twenty i hate it. It's artificial, annoying and filmy in the worst way.
Near the end of I've Loved You So Long, Kristin's character Juliette musters her courage saying "I'm here. I'm here."
This time it works. Perhaps because she's not just really repeating the same phrase. The first "here" is just a statement to friend. The second is a vow, a sign she's finally moving forward.
