The Assassination

I was lucky enough to see this film at the AFI Fest screening in Los Angeles this week. They say it will be released at the end of the year, which is not soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

Others here have commented on the brilliant performances of the stellar cast, and I must concur. There isn't a weak link in the group. Particular standouts are Jack Thompson and Michael Wincott. These two actors play character Sam Byck's (Sean Penn) boss and brother, respectively, and they are the authority figures in Sam's life whose influences are palpable in the film even when they are not on-screen. Naomi Watts and Don Cheadle provide superlative performances that we have begun to expect from them as our due. Certainly one could say the same about Sean Penn. He is probably one of the highest praised and consistently well-reviewed actors of his generation, and his performance in this film illustrates why. Penn's elegiac performance is delicately nuanced and precisely wrought. For me, this is unarguably his finest performance to date. I hope that Academy voters won't hold it against him that he won last year because if ever a performance deserves an Oscar, this is it!

Director/Co-writer Niels Mueller has crafted a stunning work that is clearly heart-felt. This is a beautifully rendered character study. The level of achievement in directing, writing, cinematography, and editing are beyond impressive. Although this film was inspired by true events that occurred three decades ago (and the director and the production design team have captured the feel and look perfectly), the film is timeless in the themes that it explores. Considering the fact that this film was conceived and written at least five years ago (according to the director during the AFI Q&A)-before 9/11, before the Clinton Impeachment, before Bush's election and re-election, before the Iraq war-it is uncanny how relevant and topical the themes are.

If you are someone who likes inspired, thought-provoking films that are well-written, beautifully acted and masterfully directed, then I advise you to run, don't walk, to see NIXON when it comes out.

Refusing to lie to his customers was the thing that saw Samuel Bickle leave his job with his brother's tyre sales business and looks like it will be again in his new job as an office furniture salesman. Failing in his career, Sam has also failed in marriage, with an estranged wife who is seeing another man and children who barely notice whether he is around or not. Trying to do the honest thing and put in the hard work needed to make a success of himself is not easy as he still requires loans to do that. As he slowly crumbles under the pressure of seeing the life he believed he should have eluding him, he watches Nixon survive and sell himself to the nation for a second term. Bit by bit his anger finds a focus and his path is clear.

Although I know nothing of the "true story" back in the seventies, I am in no doubt that this film is very relevant today. Ignore the fact that Nixon was an unpopular President that took America into a war that few wanted (hmmm), this is relevant because many "little" people feel like Sam to some degree; even those not in his shoes will be able to feel for him and recognise why he feels the way he does. The narrative is interesting but the really this is a character study of Sam – although I don't know if it is the real man of the true story but the character study is of a man sold down the river by the dreams he has been promised and the lifestyle he has been sold. In this way the film succeeds because the writing is great; this is a man who is in a lot of pain but not totally pathetic or needy – just a man who wants the simple promise of a family, a job and a slice of the good life. It is telling that he has the standard three children and dog, but his white picket fence around his old home is faded and peeling. If it sounds a simple story then that's because it is, but it is compelling, depressing, recognisable and very relevant to a world where large numbers of people feel cut off from the ruling classes and entirely left out of the dream that we are told to aim for by adverts, the media and our upbringing.

The writing is great but the acting still needs to be good to make it work; luckily it is impressive in almost all areas. Yet again Penn gives a great performance but, unlike Mystic River, it is a performance of restraint and quiet moments that gripped me by how well observed it was. Watts is only in a small role comparatively but she works well as the contrast of Sam – she has been failed as well but she accepts it and just does it in the way most of us do. Cheadle is good as always and Thompson is perfectly cast as the slick embodiment of what it takes to get on – lies and spin! With this heavy support cast, it speaks volumes that Penn still dominates the film and his performance is worthy of awards when the season comes but I suspect that the subject matter and the timing of the film will not make that too easy.

Overall this is a strong film with a good narrative but it works best as a character study. Sam is disenfranchised, feeling betrayed and just trying to make good with the qualities that he has been taught will be enough to bring him a slice of the dream. It is compelling, relevant and sadly, depressingly convincing as a life that many of us will at least be able to recognise if not totally empathise with.

Much like the Joel Schumacher film of 1993 starring Michael Douglas, this film is about an ordinary man with an ordinary job who is driven to insanity by the injustice and unfairness of his world. While both films teach us that no matter how solid it seems, everything will crumble under enough pressure there is no humor to TAORN. In fact it's the most depressing film like...ever.

I don't know what made me go see TAORN. I'd heard nothing of it but I like Sean Penn and Naomi Watts (they were in the brilliant 21 Grams together) and everything else at the cinema I had either seen or looked crap (Man of the House, Miss Congenatailiality 2) so I chose this, hoping it to be a dark horse. It was well made and acted but it's really, really heavy and I would not recommend it to anyone bored with their jobs or lives in general.

Sean Penn plays the true story of Sam Bicke, a furniture salesman who is estranged from his family, his wife, his children, his colleagues...basically everything. He sees the fatcats around him growing richer and richer while he rots away in his inescapable reality of nothingness. He blames Dick Nixon for his woes, the fattest of all fatcats, the man at the top of the food chain. He believes that if he kills Nixon he might be able to make the slightest of changes to the racist, lying world.

Of course he failed, but watching Sam Bicke crash and burn is a very painful thing to do. What makes it more distressing is that there is never a reason given as to why everyone deserted him. It gave the impression that anyone can be so callous and uncaring and that anyone can be driven to such insanity and desperate measures.

Not a film to see with your girlfriend that's for damn sure but certainly an impressive, if tough to watch, piece of work.

THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON (2004) *** Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Jack Thompson, Don Cheadle, Michael Wincott. Penn continues to be our greatest living American actor in this volatile, highly implosive achievement as a frustrated businessman circa 1974 who vents all his shortcomings into a half-baked attempt to kill President Nixon in the hope his actions actually add some color to his miserable life and impose him as a significant human being. Novice filmmaker Niels Mueller (who collaborated on the screenplay with Kevin Kennedy) constructs a significant portrait of angst, anomie and alienation yet the outcome proves to be a touch anti-climactic spoiling the rage that has been festering throughout like an undercurrent of dread. Never-the-less Penn is ably supported particularly veteran character actor Thompson as his passive/aggressive prick boss.

I saw this film at Cannes and thought it was fantastic. There is not a flawed moment in the entire film. The performances are amazing and any intelligent film fan will see Sean Penn's performance as one of his best if not his very best ever.

Additionally, Naomi Watts is outstanding. She disappears entirely in her role as Marie and is almost unrecognizable from anything she's ever done in the past. Jack Thompson, the great Australian actor of Breaker Morant and Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith fame is stunning. I can't believe he hasn't been used more in the United States. Not to mention the always great Don Cheadle and others...

The story itself is chilling. This is one relevant film that everyone should see. I don't want to give anything away but suffice it to say that this film discusses with great depth and insight issues that are burning in everyone's minds these days -- terrorism, 9-11, powerlessness as a voting public, etc., etc.

This film is gripping from start to finish. It is a carefully crafted character dissection that takes you inside the mind and heart of Penn's character. The film couldn't have succeeded without Penn's brilliance. The art direction and cinematography are stand out as well as the editing which keeps the film moving at a very assured pace.

This film is as good as they come. It's the kind of film they used to make and I was thrilled to see that some filmmakers and actors had the courage to tackle such complexities as are tackled here.

Roger Ebert calls "Nixon" one of the best films at this year's Cannes film festival...Le Monde in France called it a near masterpiece and in Rome's largest paper they wondered why this film instead of Fahrenheit 911 wasn;'t garnering all the attention. I agree with all of them. Amazing what the director and cast were able to pull off, simply amazing.

This film is an absolute gem and a must see for any intelligent film-goer....It will become a classic...guaranteed.