DEATH OF TRADITIONAL CINEMA

Biopics are risky. People are always looking for authenticity, veracity, or fearlessness in storytelling- especially if the subject is a controversial figure. There's a good way of doing it (GANDHI, THE SOCIAL NETWORK) and then there's a bad way of doing it (AMELIA, CLEOPATRA). In the end, it's what you have to say for your subject that makes all the difference. Take THE IRON LADY for example. The subject is former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher-controversial indeed. The actress playing the character is Meryl Streep- more than capable. But what does the film want to say about Thatcher? The focus of screenwriter Abi Morgan's script is on how Thatcher remembers her rise to glory and eventual downfall, and director Phyllida Lloyd, who reteams with Streep since MAMMA MIA mounts the scenes and pieces them together like a memory: non-linear, jagged, and selective, which is not to say that there isn't any amount of truth in the telling.  We see Thatcher as sh...

If there's a message Clint Eastwood's J. EDGAR successfully conveys, it is this: even monsters have goodness in their hearts, no matter how wrong their methods of achieving ends may be. Eastwood masterfully directs a fairly-presented biopic based on a screenplay by Dustin Lance Black (MILK), while Leonardo DiCaprio gives his all and achieves a lot covering his character's beliefs and inner conflicts, though he has given better performances in previous films (SHUTTER ISLAND is one example). The focus primarily of J. EDGAR is the controversial FBI head's contributions to modern law enforcement, and the price he paid for it, both cementing his status as a relevant icon of history. We see J. Edgar Hoover's unwavering allegiance to the American flag, and the many times his ideas seemed farfetched, to the point of utter rejection, yet the script is intent on proving that Hoover was right most of these times, with all his seemingly absurd notions about surveillance, fore...