Movie Review – The Conspirator

A period flick with a distant charm

Period films should always be given some settling time and doesn’t immediately work because it talks about the situation and politics around that time rather than focusing an individual and their story. So unless you know a little bit of history or not inclined towards knowing it, it remains distant. ‘The Conspirator’ too felt to be in the same category. As soon as it gets revealed to be a period flick, a sense of relaxation lures into the air which gets bypassed only by time. But once we get a grip of what’s happening or rather once the film grips us. Then it makes for a compelling watch.

The film’s story was a really interesting one, something surprisingly no one has thought of. It works as a conspiracy theory too, so it would always make for a good watch. But the events happen quite fast and it jumps from one event to another with varied time. The real crux of film gets to be known only around thirty minutes after the film when Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) gets arrested and Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) reluctantly defends him. If Frederick had been a guy who was the only person who wanted to defend Mary, then it would have been a straightforward story. But Frederick compulsively takes the job but rather than sympathizing with his client, he stays true to his job and preserves his work ethics. That’s the beauty of the film.

James McAvoy and Robin Wright were eclectic in their roles and did to perfection. In fact the whole film was about the two of them. Mary even though wrongly convicted doesn’t let the identity of his son because she knows that once it comes out, it’s fairly simple to put all the charges on him and give him a death sentence so Frederick has double trouble of saving Mary when she is not ready to give out any clues about his son. The conversation between both of them were nicely taken. There was a specific scene where she sits out and gets some sun, it actually makes us feel a breath of fresh air. Another scene where an umbrella is held over shows what a proud individual she is. She resembles Julia Roberts so much in that scene but remains her own in delivering the right performance.

A couple of good things about the film were its tone and the eventualities. The whole film has a smoky depressing tone, especially the courtroom scenes. It’s really important in a period film as to what you show. You can’t get away with a vast canvas if you’re not an auteur. Plus it’s a confined film which wants to show about the individual’s plight rather than the place. So the focus rests solely on the people rather than the environment. Yet the environment has to be right no matter what the canvas is. The director Robert Redford does it just about the correct level.

On the other hand, the film accepts eventualities. I liked the fact that Mary Surratt dies, even though the film was about her. And in post credits scene we get to know that John Surratt gets released. But it’s not really a happy feeling. It ideally should have been the other way around. If it had been the ideal way, the film would have been simple and boring. Just because of the complexities, it marked itself as an interesting film.

As a whole, it makes for an interesting story to be known, rather than an interesting watch. If someone like Oliver Stone had made the movie, I’m sure it would have been far more engrossing. I guess when it comes to ‘The Conspirator’, it’s the leads and their sincerity which makes for an interesting. But when you’re binging, you got to watch movies of all kind, everything can’t be one of a kind.

Movie Review – The Ghost Writer

Too great for comfort

Sometimes great films are just boring. Like Kohli playing ODI cricket, which off late has become a riskless, impeccable work of art where he always hits through the line of the ball and drives down the ground. It is not that he can hit out of the park, which he can do anytime possible but all he wants is to reduce the risk and be there in the middle. ‘The Ghostwriter’ falls in that category, something like a ‘Moneyball’ or a ‘Margin Call’ did where you can’t cut the tension through knife but get only sucked by it.

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Both ‘Moneyball’ and ‘Margin Call’ are great films but not something that makes us curious, gets us elated but just fine art for the specific storyline. ‘The Ghostwriter’ too is in the same way, not even a single scene makes you jolt up from your seat, there is no scene where you want to clap hands and say “Atta boy” but just painfully witness the drama getting unfolded. There is an inbuilt tension but it’s carefully built in and doesn’t spread. Like how you feel when you get stuck in a situation. It’s only you who feel tensed, the whole world outside is normal.

When even my normal days are stifling enough, it was a very tedious watch for me. ‘Uncut Gems’ was the last film which I enjoyed for the tension. Even though it was tense, and even though it ends negatively, it gave be immense satisfaction of being high on a drug, doing some mischief but here I was not sure what I was feelings. All the emotions were kept at check and it was very difficult to read Ewan McGregor’s face too. This film could be one of the greatest exercise for an actor who has to underplay the whole film and would not be noticed in spite of such long screen space. Ewan McGregor does it to perfection.

And I’ve always felt that Pierce Brosnan would be great in negative role and I guess that’s the characteristic which worked perfectly for his Bond roles. So, with whatever little screen space he gets, he and the director, both, makes us feel as if it’s a film about him. And, that’s the success of his role. Apart from that, the sidekicks, Olivia Williams as Ruth Lang, Lang’s wife and Kim Cattrall as Amelia Bly, Lang’s personal assistant were great. They were eclectic in their role and performed to perfection with an air of confidence and attitude revolving around them. Performances like these are always a treat to watch. Personally, Olivia Willams was my favorite of the lot. The way she reacts to news and sits in bed was so upper class with an English attitude.

With such beautiful acting, the movie should have been far more intriguing. Something what Spielberg does to perfection after all these years but Polanski misses the trick here. ‘Chinatown’ was classy enough in this genre and that should be the limit till which the films information should be kept to minimal. Anything more than that would spoil it. Here the entire action is behind the screen. All the while, the Ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) gets involved in the scheme of things, we think only about Lang (Ewan McGregor) and that’s underwhelming.

Even in the climax it’s the powerful who win. As practical as it could be, it’s kind of depressing too. But it’s a film where we couldn’t empathize with Ewan because we see the whole film like a news article and nothing more than that. The film had a typical series kind of setup, which I couldn’t define as to why and I watched the film without knowing that it’s by Polanski, maybe that’s why I’m trying to defend even though I didn’t like it. May be, if I had not known it is by Polanski, I would have blasted it off. The dilemma, these greats give, duh!