Jeff Lubeck

In the business world, people often think the problem they are solving ends up merely being a symptom of a bigger one.  In news reporting, what many believe is the story ends up being part of a much bigger topic.  In both cases, the participants often challenge, deny, undermine, and even attempt to block the truth of the matter from being made public.  The bigger the problem the bigger the implication of dealing (or not) with the issue at-hand.

At first glance the film Spotlight appears to be the story of the Boston Globe, its Spotlight investigative reporting team, and how they identified, and reported on a horrific scandal involving the Catholic Church.  Actor, Director and Writer Tom McCarthy (co-written with Josh Singer) guides the film with a level of expertise rarely found in films that claim to be based on a true story or real events. With 38 screen credits McCarthy is a popular supporting actor (Meet the Parents, Good Night Good Luck, Flags of Our Fathers). However with Spotlight, McCarthy (Station Agent, The Visitor, Win Win, AAN Up) demonstrates that he is burgeoning star when it comes to screenwriting and directing.

Spotlight could easily be classified as a highly compelling procedural newsroom drama.  To do so would be short-changing the film.  Spotlight presents to us in carefully crafted scenes the story is really about the strength, weakness, and corruption of humans and its organized institutions – all conducting themselves in the name of the greater good.  Instead of bonking the viewer over the head, Spotlight offers up its material and lets the viewer arrive at key conclusions in uncanny synchronization with the overall pace of the film.

In order to succeed and be fully believable, Spotlight needed strong performances by a dozen actors as it is not a single star vehicle.  It gets them.  Michael Keaton (Mr. Mom, Clean & Sober, Out of Sight) and Liev Schreiber (Ransom, A Walk on the Moon, The Hurricane) are especially effective.

—–

Notes and Worthless Trivia from Jeff 

Having been bred, born, raised and worked in the newspaper/commercial media industry for a good portion of my life, Spotlight feels incredibly real and accurate with only the slightest of creative license being applied.

I have lived through leading (as Associate Publisher) and then acting on the decision to report on and then investigate a story (involving death) that ultimately revealed a much bigger scandal.  Similar to a side-story of Spotlight, I had a Managing Editor (David Ledford), reporting staff and, other collaborators (Mary Hausch Managing Editor of the Las Vegas News-Review) get the story correct and out in print.

Equally engrossing as exhausting, and beautiful as grotesque, The Revenant – the latest film by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Emanuel Lubezki is all about the journey. The ultimate end-game is established after a cinema-graphically remarkable set-up.  The end-game so-to-speak is known by the viewer and the lead characters for a good 100 of the film’s 156 minute run-time. A terrific aspect of a film such as The Revenant is that at some-point during the journey the viewer becomes a participant.

Normally a film 2.5 hours+ in length is at risk of losing its viewers.  The Revenant however, is never at risk of such a fate.  Why?

First, Lubezki (AA Birdman, AA Gravity) arguably the best Director of Photography in filmmaking today – has done it again.  I could easily watch The Revenant in its entirety without having the pleasure of the dialogue from its script or musical soundtrack.  In The Revenant, quality long-shots, pans, mid-shots, and closeups are part of the offering; many times in the same scene with superb effect.

Second, the screenplay is highly compelling. There are multiple storylines expertly interwoven throughout. Written by Iñárritu (AA Birdman, AAN Babel, 21 Grams) and Mark Smith, and taken from Michael Punke’s 2002 novel; The Revenant is based in part on the real-life fur trapper Hugh Glass.

Third, lead actors Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass, Tom Hardy as John Fitzgerald, Domhnall Gleeson as Captain Henry, and Will Poulter as Bridger deliver superb performances that quickly allow you to forget they are acting out a part in a film.  And then there is Momma Bear.  Momma Bear should get top billing!

Fourth, the musical soundtrack contains a mixture of themes – which are quite different – but work appropriately.  Rare in films of today the musical score contains the works of two completely different composers; Ryuichi Sakamoto (AA The Last Emperor) and Carsten Nicolai.

What works to a lesser effect are some flashbacks for Glass.  While from a story telling perspective, these flashbacks are important – the connections do not feel as nearly as genuine as other elements.

The Revenant ultimately works because it carefully develops the storyline and lets the set-up, journey, and the end-game take place without feeling rushed or compromised.

———

Notes and Other Worthless Trivia from Jeff

Lubezki has been nominated for an Oscar for The Revenant.  If he wins it would be three years in a row.  Wow!  Personally, I think Lubezki should have taken the Oscar for two other films for which he was nominated; Little Princess (1996) and Children of Men (2007).

If It Is Tuesday This Must Be Argentina. Although the movie is set and shot in part in Montana (where Glass operated as a fur-trapper). Other locations were used as planned, and others unplanned out of necessity.  Alberta and British Columbia were utilized as planned.  However, shooting was moved to the White and San Francisco mountains of Arizona and then to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina.  This is because of the loss of snow and early spring in the northern western hemisphere. This lack of consistency and continuity was noticeable to me.  Normally, I am ticked off by things like this (e.g., Vancouver B.C. filling in as Seattle or Toronto as Washington D.C., or worse the foothills of Southern California as Kansas).  In this case I went with the flow because the scenery was magnificent.

Do As I Say and You Can Do in Return. The Revenant has some remarkably demanding scenes for which having a stunt double perform in place of the actor is not feasible.  Evidently, Thomas Hardy and Iñárritu were at odds over the requirement. Iñárritu made an agreement with Hardy that any act performed on Hardy during the filming, Hardy could then perform on Iñárritu after the shot was complete.  Hardy took Iñárritu up on the offer.

Must Remain Quiet.  Although the movie would not exist without Michael Punke and his novel, he cannot speak about the film or participate in its promotion.  Why?  Punke is currently the Ambassador to the World Trade Organization for the United States of America. Therefore as an employee of the federal government ethics rules do not allow Punke to promote the work and further enrich himself while on the payroll.