tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2357343948344616831.post7613342449854954919..comments2011-08-30T21:54:43.577-07:00Comments on ONE MAN'S OPINION with Joseph Frankel: Oscar Profile: Frost/NixonJoseph Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00444420655719993940noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2357343948344616831.post-34467876201141968682009-02-21T09:57:00.000-08:002009-02-21T09:57:00.000-08:00I would agree that Frost/Nixon is probably Howard'...I would agree that Frost/Nixon is probably Howard's most accomplished directorial achievement to date. His sensibility as a "typically vanilla" storyteller is put to good use here. But, I do not agree that Frost/Nixon compares favorably to Morgan's brilliant script for The Queen. Whereas that film expands upon a brief moment in time and opens it up to expose us to a myriad of variables, Frost/Nixon feels a little slight to me. For me, the ingenuity required to adapt and dramatize these famous interviews simply can't compare to the bracing honesty of Robert Siegel's screenplay for The Wrestler, or the poetry and imagination of Wall-E. It also doesn't lift the spirits the way that Slumdog Millionaire does. Powerful, yes. Taut and intriguing, yes but ultimately offering very few surprises. And, if you're looking for riveting cat and mouse interplay, my vote this year goes to a little known film called The Dark Knight.Joseph Frankelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00444420655719993940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2357343948344616831.post-57562946115385912862009-02-18T15:24:00.000-08:002009-02-18T15:24:00.000-08:00Coincidentally, I just saw Frost/Nixon this week a...Coincidentally, I just saw Frost/Nixon this week as well and I'd go so far as to say if there was a better screenplay written in 2008, it certainly isn't on my radar. Between this film and The Queen (and to a lesser extent The Last King of Scotland), Peter Morgan has demonstrated an incredible aptitude for taking real life events that don't appear inherently cinematic and finding angles of entry into the material that are often astonishingly astute. In this case, he shrewdly identifies the duality between David Frost and Richard Nixon, both in terms of their chosen profession (politics and the media, whose codependency is well-chronicled) and their personalities (both of them ambitious men from humble beginnings, all too aware of their public persona) and depicts their series of interviews as a kind of cerebral chess match, played out via nuances of speech and subtle shifts in body language. Of course, none of this would matter if Frost/Nixon didn't also happen to be one of the year's most entertaining films, as Morgan does an exemplary job imagining the sort of prodigious drama that played out behind-the-scenes. Although there's some debate as to whether the film pins an inflated sense of importance on Nixon's eventual confession - which may not have been quite the moment of revelatory political watershed it's depicted as here - there's little doubt that the events on-screen prove more gripping than a story that hinges on two men sitting across from one another and chatting politics probably has any right to. <BR/><BR/>Frank Langella certainly delivers an absorbing and fully-realized performance, although it's worth noting that he doesn't really look or sound anything like Nixon (Dan Hedaya's criminally underrated portrayal in Dick remains the benchmark, for my money). That being said, he elevates Tricky Dick to the realm of Shakespearean tragedy, which is no small feat. The ever-deft Michael Sheen, meanwhile, is quickly becoming one of the most underrated actors in the business and it's a shame his work here (as well as his superb turn as Tony Blair in The Queen) hasn't earned more kudos. The supporting cast - including Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfayden and Sam Rockwell - is excellent across the board. Not to take anything away from Slumdog Millionaire, but Frost/Nixon, for my money, was most deserving of Top Ensemble honors at the recent SAG awards. <BR/><BR/>Ultimately, this was, in many ways, the perfect vehicle for Ron Howard's typically vanilla sensibilities... although it's never quite clear if he actually leaves his own stamp on the material or simply found himself entrusted with a terrific script / cast and stayed more or less out of the way (given that Langella and Sheen already honed their portrayals on stage, I might be inclined to lean towards the latter). Perhaps that's not entirely fair, as the film is extremely well-paced and reflects a certain shrewdness in terms of the way that it's framed / shot. Either way, I have absolutely no qualms in declaring this Howard's most accomplished picture to date (not that that's saying a whole lot, given that I'd probably have accorded that honor to Willow previously).The Purple Smurfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10993494548056219249noreply@blogger.com