In anticipation of two new films Directed by Ben Affleck and Oliver Stone, I dug into my archives for two older reviews of their previous Directorial efforts.
"GONE BABY GONE" (2007)
Co-Written and Directed by Ben Affleck
**** (four stars)
Ben Affleck makes a masterful directorial debut with this heartbreaking tale of crime, punishment, lost innocence and the moral dilemmas and consequences of trying to do the right thing.
Treading similar territory as Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" (2003), Affleck weaves a story that begins as a private detective's (Casey Affleck making the most of his starring role) search for the 4 year old child of a neighborhood junkie (ferociously played by Amy Ryan) but concluding as a disturbing tale of morality in a neighborhood falling under drugs and poverty.
Much like television's brilliant series "The Wire," "Gone Baby Gone" focuses it's attention upon the pains of the Boston neighborhoods, depicted with gritty realism. All of the performances, from leads to extremely authentic looking extras, are first rate but the major surprise is the arrival of Ben Affleck as a filmmaker. He never makes a wrong step and is in complete command of his gripping story, and he leaves us with a haunting tale that will resonate and stay with viewers long after the end credits roll.
I wish this was up for Best Picture in place of "Atonement"!
Originally written February 2008
"W." (2008)
Directed by Oliver Stone
**** (four stars)
I was expecting a different movie.
Oliver Stone has been one of my favorite filmmakers over the last 20 plus years and when he announced a project chronicling the life of George W. Bush, I have to say that I was expecting a trademark Stone epic, a film equivalent of a Molotov cocktail. But, true to his nature to explore and challenge, Stone has delivered an intimate epic that is unusually subdued, but no less engrossing as his best films. Once it was all over, I felt I had seen one of my favorite films of 2008 and a worthy entry into Stone's extensive and brilliant filmography.
What surprised me most was how he could simultaneously turn a figure, who may go down in history as the worst United States President ever, into one you could gain sympathy for--while also not letting him off the hook for the injustices he has unleashed upon our nation. Stone frames the film and the man through the lens of a family drama. We are shown how W., the family's black sheep, continuously tries to gain the approval of his father while also trying to step outside the shadow of the "golden child" brother. We watch his spiritual conversion and it feels real and true--not a gimmick to simply appeal to the evangelical right. As a human being, these are not issues one can really dispute and ones that anyone could possibly relate to. In this fashion, Stone has made a most vilified political figure a human being.
Yet, it is through his own character foibles that we begin to ask ourselves what is it we want in a President. Do we truly want someone "just like us," someone we would "like to have a beer with"? Someone whose reasons for political power may be solely rooted in Daddy issues? What also fails W. is his naive and narrow vision of the world and how everything can fall into black and white compartments. Stone may be arguing that for Bush, his talking points may be things he truly believes and not the political smoke and mirrors as exhibited through characters like Rove (Toby Jones), Rumsfeld (Scott Glenn) and Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss).
One powerful and lengthy sequence falls in the middle of the film as Bush's cabinet goes through the reasons of leading us into the still raging war in Iraq. The scene is set in a darkened room with Rove in the shadows and Bush at the head of a table. As the scene plays, Bush slowly fades into the background while all of the actions, planning and plotting fall into the hands of Cheney, Powell and Rumsfeld. The sequence finally ends with Bush returning to the fore, again trying to assert his authority in the most simplistic means, not fully understanding the moral and political complexities that occurred right in front of him. It was fascinating and tremendously involving.
Josh Brolin fully deserves an Oscar nomination for his rich and full performance that never delved into a cartoon. Only Thandie Newton's eerie and almost grotesque performance as Condi Rice carries a "through the looking glass" element (not a criticism, by the way) in an otherwise firmly grounded film.
I didn't want to feel sympathy for this man but I have to concede that I did. But I also feel that it is because of his foibles that Bush is a man who should have NEVER become President in the first place. It seems, according to this film, if Bush had his druthers, he would be happier owning a baseball team.
And what a better world it would be if he had done just that.
Originally written October 19, 2008
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