his last testament in the event of him being assassinated. It proved to be an act of chilling prescience, for he was gunned down soon after. And this is by no means giving away the ending, for director Gus Van Sant uses archival footage of the announcement of Milk’s death, made to a media Milk throng on the steps of San You can legislate against Francisco’s City Hall, in the first discrimination in the workplace five minutes of proceedings. and in the provision of social Contrarily, being forewarned services, but attitudes on the of Milk’s doom (admittedly, street take longer to change; his fate would be common two brawny blokes behind knowledge to American me (Bart Simpson shorts, audiences) somehow adds Celtic tatts and sleeveless to the feeling of being in Ts – one with EVERLAST on it) the moment as events hurry harrumphed and departed, along. Van Sant did a similar like kiddies refusing to eat their thing with the more clinically vegies, during a homosexual detached Elephant (2003), in love scene in this stirring which you are aware that the film. Their flight was that Columbine teenagers will soon of Aussie barbecue-men in massacre their schoolmates terror of being taken for a pair but are just as riveted to the of poofters when the lights unfolding of the tragedy – not went up. Hitherto, I knew wondering where something is nothing of the incredible headed does not automatically story of American gay rights deny a stunning or (as here) campaigner Harvey Milk. The unimaginable climax. Sean movie opens in 1978, with Milk Penn’s performance as alone in his kitchen recording California’s first openly queer
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This film tells the story of the historic, electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a reputation to try and save, and David Frost, the jet-setting television personality with a name to make. Directed by Ron Howard it is a masterpiece of storytelling. Frost/Nixon not only recreates the on-air interview, but the weeks of
shoulders and heavy gait by Frank Langella, is the disgraced and wounded warrior. But the film is not about these surface appearances. It’s about two powerful and deeply flawed men who decide to match wits for money in a kind of poker game played out on television. There are just as many rules as a card game, too: Nixon can stop it any time to wipe the sweat off his upper lip – the sweat that cost him an election, he remarks at one point – but he can’t control the editing or see the questions. ~ Lounge Cinema
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Frost/Nixon
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around-the-world, behind-thescenes maneuvering between the two men and their camps as negotiations were struck, deals were made and secrets revealed… all leading to the moment when they would sit facing one another in the court of public opinion. At first glance, the film appears to be a variation on Beauty And The Beast theme. David Frost, played with a pixie’s grin and twinkling charm by Michael Sheen, is a media star so polished you can almost smell the cologne. Richard Nixon, played with hunched www.dendy.com.au
discontent. Mundane domesticity is driving her up the wall and, wanting so much more from life, she concocts the plan of moving to Paris with Frank and the children where, in the City of Light, she will surely find fulfilment and hubby his elusive raison d’être. Frank, who has started shagging a girl from the secretarial pool, is not entirely convinced but, bored by his nine-to-five city job, is willing to give it a go and the couple make preparations to liberate themselves from the stifling conformity of middle class, middle brow New England. We’re on a pretty well beaten path here, as is director Sam Mendes, who went down it and arrived at far more interesting and original observations with American Beauty (1999). The difference this time around is that he is working with his wife playing the central character and one can’t help thinking that the whole exercise has been conceived as a vehicle for Winslet to strut her stuff and, who knows, win an Oscar? Things go Revolutionary Road awry for Frank and April, their As Harry Nilsson once sang: marriage teeters and it is left ‘You can climb the mountain, to John (Michael Shannon), you can swim the sea, you the blatantly contrived idiot can jump into the fire, but savant son of realtor Mrs Giving you can never be free.’ The (ever reliable Kathy Bates) confinements of convention to speak the unspeakable are intractable (‘alternative’, truth about the hopelessness despite its foolish pride, demands strict adherence to a that is pushing April to the code as much as ‘mainstream’), brink of total disintegration. but still we cling to our dreams, There is something a little too immaculate about the design, still we are seduced by the something too perfect about chimera of the greener grass the fairytale period recreation over there. It is 1955 (now (you know indubitably that synonymous with ‘dull’). that fan on the fridge is the Frank and April (Leonardo polished and functional 1955 DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) model), about the story-asare, on the surface, a happy, textbook-study that creates well off couple with two a veneer that does not allow sweet kids and a gingerbread for emotional engagement. house on Revolutionary Road The performances, from both (an address of annoyingly Winslet and DiCaprio, though infantile symbolism). April, heartfelt, seem stagy and however, harbours a seething thought out well in advance – LATEST IN HI-TECH MBUFTU!JO!EJHJUBM!TVSSPVOE!TPVOE FULLY AIR-CONDITIONED as a counter, I should add that a MOVIE PRESENTATION EVERY WED ALL SEATS Cr Kerr & Fox Streets woman nearby wept non-stop ADMINISTRATION: ALLINA AIR Ph. 6686 9600 ALL SESSIONS $8 ONLY through the last half hour. An ADMISSION PRICES MOVIELINE: CINEMAS Ph. 6686 9091 Adults $11 absorbing, lavish, perfectly WEBSITES: ★ Students/Conc. $9 ballina.info/cinema constructed and executed THURS 5TH TO WED 11TH FEBRUARY Children $8 yourmovies.com.au potboiler. ★ EVERY WEDNESDAY ALL SEATS ALL SESSIONS $8 ONLY ★ ATM NOW AVAILABLE ★ THURS 5 ~ John Campbell THURS 5 THURS 5 candidate to be elected to office is a tour de force, taking Harvey from his long-haired, shirtless days as a camera shop owner to suit-and-tie politicking and TV debating. The tremendous support cast includes James Franco as Scott, a live-in lover who spent his last unemployment cheque on a pot deal and who stuck by Harvey through thick and thin. Because Penn never plays it for sympathy, it is Franco’s character, handsomer and of a less strident nature, who (for mine) carries the emotional weight of the film – a weight that is only fully brought to bear in the candlelit procession that follows Milk’s murder. Josh Brolin is equally good as the reactionary, conflicted careerist and, appearing only in news clips from the time, Anita Bryant, as herself, epitomises the repugnant god-botherer who owns family values. Uncompromising, poignant and, if the walk-outs are any indicator, still pertinent. ~ John Campbell
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The Byron Shire Echo February 3, 2009 33