Almost done the list of movies! Next on the docket: Frost/Nixon, starring Frank Langella and Michael Sheen (more on him later!). The acting is simply stellar. If you closed your eyes while Langella spoke, I think most people would have thought they were listening to the real deal. And Sheen! This guys plays Lucian in the Underworld series, for jebus' sake... would anyone have thought he could have pulled it off with such panache? such conviction? That he could have really held his ground against Langella? Honestly, it was art imitating life imitating art.
The directing was really well-paced too. Considering this was a movie based on an interview, it could have very easily become... well, boring. Far from it. I kept thinking back to that other iconic exchange and decided that we have a new soundbite for our times. Is it ironic that, in fact, the soundbite originates some 30-odd years ago? It didn't help that Kevin Bacon was around, complete with a decorated uniform. Is that guy in very movie, or what?
Being born in the 80's means that the whole Nixon/Vietnam/Watergate is completely over my head. I only know of it vaguely, and that too mostly gleaned from Trivial Pursuit games. So the entire movie, while historic in nature, really did become a spectacle for entertainment. And in the end, that's what impressed me most - the ability to make two guys doing an interview so goddamned riveting. Best movie of the year? Hardly. But definitely some of the best acting this decade. 4 out of 5 stars.
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