-Gate, the suffix of shame

So, this time yesterday, I was walking out of a restaurant after eating dinner after walking on the mall after seeing Frost/Nixon! If I sound a bit, you know, not like myself and maybe like I'm rambling today... it's because I've been watching video upon video from the older Brotherhood 2.0 blogs from 2007 and that's kind of how they talk. (I'll talk more about B2.0 some other time.)

So, Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard, starring Michael Sheen and Frank Langella, based on a play, based on the interviews that occurred between British journalist/talk-show host David Frost and First-to-Resign-the-Presidency Ex-President Nixon.

Frost/Nixon is an excellent story, just maybe not such a totally phenomenal movie. Don't get me wrong, it was a very good movie. Well made, excellent acting, and beautiful film-work... But it didn't have that total WOW effect that totally phenomenal AND well-made movies like Slumdog Millionaire have.

But back to my first point for a moment. It's an amazing story - and it's all true. Now, I didn't live during that time, so I can't speak to the emotions of dealing with Watergate and Nixon for those who did, but it was definitely a major part of our country's history. Richard Nixon seems like a fascinating history - all wit and no empathy. The movie had many great one liners, most of which leave you chuckling nervously, thinking, "did he really just say that?" (take, for example "I'd hate to be a Russian leader... They never know when they're being taped.")

I mentioned that it's a true story. I don't know how accurate it was, or how many of the lines in the movie Nixon might have actually said, but I'm guessing they captured the essence of his character. Frank Langella, the actor who portrayed Nixon, was incredible. He looked and sound like him, and really managed to highlight the situation Richard Nixon was in (particularly in the scenes following the interviews).

Additionally, the Frost that puts the Frost in "Frost/Nixon," acted by Michael Sheen, is quite an interesting character in and of himself. A popular British talk show host (though I just read today that he considers himself more of a serious journalist) and sort of playboy bighead... Frost didn't seem to be the natural "adversary" to Nixon. He couldn't get any networks behind the project, and ended up borrowing and paying out of his own pocket for the project. He basically staked everything, after losing his other job due to the media chatter about his ridiculous goal.

But I'm losing my point here, if I have one. It's a fabulous story. Nixon was so delusional, it seems to me, about what he did... That the interviews and the conversations were simply riveting.

And Ron Howard did a great job directing. I was particularly struck by the lighting, which seemed to have a story to tell in and of itself. In many of the scenes, not only were there two kinds of light (light and shadow), but sometimes there were three kinds, like light from a lamp, shadow, and moonlight (Exibhit A: the telephone conversation scene). And then, during the interviews, they were constantly changing types of light - they had certain spotlights to make the film look good, and then the lights in the room. These were slightly different "shades" of light, and aimed in different ways.

It seems to me that as light versus dark fundamentally represents black versus white that these lighting decisions might be symbolic. However, many of the scenes, as I just said, didn't have clear light versus dark... It was a mix of kinds of light and kinds of dark... Almost like there's black and white, but there's also gray. Could this be speaking to the "gray" area of Nixon's decisions, how everything around the Watergate scandel seemed wrapped in gray, instead of being simply black and white/ right and wrong? Or I've just spent too much of the day writing an analyticial paper and am now waaaay over-analyzing this.

So, those parts I liked. My only criticism (and it's not really a criticism, just an observation) is that the movie is basically a glorified documentary, and thus is not a truly masterful work of storytelling. This is true with any true story turned play turned movie, I'd imagine.

Wrap-up: I'd recommend Frost/Nixon. It's extremely well acted and will probably be showing up on the Oscar nominee list. I'm sure it would also be very powerful for anyone who had lived during the time (as I gathered from the conversations between my parents and the stranger sitting next to them and virtually any other older adult couples in the theater as the film ended).

Right, well, I feel like I had more to say about this yesterday, but didn't get around to writing before the thoughts slipped my mind, so that will have to do. Off to watch another movie! XD I'm sure I'll be back soon!