Frost/Nixon

This has been on my list to see since the trailer premiered some time ago. It's a great trailer. I wasn't let down. The chief attraction is the performances from the two leads: Michael Sheen (Frost) and Frank Langella (Nixon, and of Skeletore fame). The whole movie is coated in director Ron Howard's familiar Hollywood veneer. Still, Howard is a good storyteller. He can frame a shot and create drama out of lackluster material. Luckily, his material here is good.

Screenwriter/playwright Peter Morgan makes (not so much with subtlety as glee) a boxing movie out of television journalism and it becomes spellbinding to watch the ole rope a dope in a different arena. Nothing is subpar about the movie, but I do think the movie lacked some heft or weight to the first two acts (as though mirroring its "hero"). I could have done without the talking head interviews with the characters. It really only served to tell the audience what they should have only been told by the chief narrative. In this case, the past narrative.

By the final round, I was sold. I was interested enough to see what happened because early on the two leads were made intriguing characters. Even when what they were doing was not showy or bravura acting (though Langella certainly gets opportunities for that and takes them), I was drawn to the minuscule almost intangible moments with the two men, sparring partners. Sheen spends most of the movie reacting, and those moments when he says nothing with his words and everything with his face are the best part of Sheen's performance. Nixon is a bit of an un-PC chatty Cathy, but he also provides wonderful moments reacting. Though the supporting players (wonderful actors Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt, Matthew Macfayden, and Kevin Bacon; and actress Rebecca Hall) aren't the main attraction with Frost/Nixon, all do an above average job filling in the spaces between Frost and Nixon's many conversations with each other.

While Frost/Nixon isn't likely to make my list of Best Picture nominees, I'll remember the time when history (however inaccurate it might have been presented) was fascinating in a new way. I don't know that the film will stand the test of time as well as the controversy on which it was based has. Will future film historians and fans mention it in the same breath as All the President's Men as a vital part of the story?

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