STILLWATER

Matt Damon     Abigail Breslin     Camille Cottin     Milou Siauvaud

 

            This is a slow burn thriller that draws you in gradually.  At first, it’s a bit curious watching Matt Damon become a simple construction man from Oklahoma who is thoughtful, but not especially appealing or interesting.  He captures Bill Baker not only in the slight drawl, but in the complete persona of the stereotypical western man, taciturn and direct, but quick to react when provoked.  And he is doggedly persistent when he becomes committed to a cause.  But he will become involved in an intrigue that is far beyond his imagination.

            Bill Baker’s daughter Allison (Breslin) has been convicted of murder and has been in prison in France for several years.  We get enough information to learn that Bill was not such a good father and had problems with alcohol.  Now, he wants to visit Allison and do whatever he can to help her.  He has an unceasing belief in her innocence, whereas she is skeptical on his being able to do anything.

            Like many Americans going to a foreign country for the first time, it takes a while for Bill to really get that the French people don’t necessarily speak English.  Then, a young nine year-old girl comes to the rescue.  She is plucky Maya (Siauvaud) who manages to form a connection with this inhibited foreigner by her fearlessness and curiosity.  They bond around tools and handyman projects around the house, soccer games, and the need for her to have a caretaker when her busy single mother is forging ahead with a career in acting.  

            But Bill’s main purpose in going to France is to get his daughter out of prison.  When his efforts to pressure her lawyers and some detectives to forge ahead, he is stymied.  On one clue given to him by Allison, he begins to investigate on his own—a true western U.S. vigilante.

            This search becomes the suspenseful, tense action of the story like the usual detective thriller.  Bill makes some daring moves and comes up against Arabic solidarity on the one side and French hatred of the Arabs on the other side.  

            In the meantime, his attachment to Maya and her mother Virginie (Cottin) grows increasingly intimate, providing him an opportunity for a do-over as a parent.  Allison has expressed her lack of faith in him for his previous unavailability and ineptness, and he clearly wants to improve and be a better father.  

            The script and the talented actors bringing it to life are the rewarding aspects of this movie.  Damon gives one of his best performances of a character seemingly unknown to him, given his background.  But he must have researched it well.  Abigail Breslin’s characterization of an imprisoned young woman with regrets and justified anger toward her father hits home any number of times for its authenticity and depiction of so many different emotions.  You can easily see her ambivalence toward her father.

            The overall theme of Bill Baker becoming acquainted with a more cosmopolitan outlook on life is just as rewarding as the drama around Allison.  We see both Maya and her mother Virginie showing a kind of joie de vivre that Bill has never seen before.  He becomes more sensitive and expressive in response, and gets in touch with his own emotions as he has ever done before.

            Writer/director Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, Win Win, The Visitor, Spotlight) is a wonder in creating dramas for the soul, and I think he has done it again with this film in which Americans and Europeans are in contrast, in the evolvement of a typical clueless American into one more open to change and new ways of thinking, and the different ways to approach powerlessness.  For example, Baker’s sense of powerlessness in his daughter Allison’s predicament turning to a sense of efficacy in his relationship with Maya and her mother.  But, as we all know, the final conclusion is not necessarily “happy ever after.”  Sometimes adjustments have to be made to accommodate to change, and then hopefully embark on another path.

 

The evolution of a simple man into new ways of being, spiced up with intrigue and hard-won battles.

 

Grade:  A                              By Donna R. Copeland

SPOTLIGHT

Mark Ruffalo   Rachel McAdams   Michael Keaton     Liev Schreiber   Stanley Tucci   Billy Crudup   John Slattery

          Shining a spotlight on wrongdoing is a big scoop for a newspaper, but it also holds huge risks.  The small team at the Boston Spotlight was charged with investigating the involvement of Catholic priests in the abuse of children in the 1970’s, just when newspapers were beginning to founder and a new editor had come aboard.  And Marty Baron (Schreiber) was an astute editor, insisting on pursuing the story even when the staff was a bit reluctant—except for one, Michael Rezendes (Ruffalo), one of the newer reporters. 

        Tom McCarthy, director, and co-writer with Josh Singer, has once again shown his considerable talent in telling an important story with grace, compassion, and thoughtfulness (as in The Station Agent, Win Win, and The Visitor) without indulging in hero worship or lurid descriptions.  That is, he avoided focusing it as a major newspaper scoop, and kept the attention on the (in)humanity of the issue.  Based on a true story, for which the Spotlight received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003, McCarthy’s film is a docudrama about the newspaper’s honorable pursuit of the truth.  In their efforts, they encountered formidable resistance from a shocking number of respected leaders in the Boston community.

         The reluctance of so many to admit culpability—based on a myriad of reasons even as simple as “It just didn’t capture my attention” to “Yes I did it, but it wasn’t wrong”–is entirely understandable in some cases, but reprehensible in others.  The film does a fine job in distinguishing these from one another.  One sign of a story well told is if audience members ask themselves, “What would I have done?” and have to think about it for a while. 

   In addition to the drama, McCarthy knows how to choose musicians and cinematographers who will enhance the drama.  Howard Shore’s music swells or lilts at just the right places to reinforce the drama.  Similarly, cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi is skilled in capturing mood and emotion in the drama and employing the camera as a visual guide.

     Now, back to the actors.  Mark Ruffalo gives probably one of his most memorable performances here, although he is noteworthy in many films (e.g., Foxcatcher, The Kids are all Right, The Avengers series, and television’s The Normal Heart).  As Mike in this film, he shows him as a team player, an eager beaver but with values, and more importantly one of the few who really champions and wants to protect children.  (I was dismayed to see how little regard for children so many, even mothers, had, as well as the absence of any impulse to protect younger children coming up.)  Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams are noteworthy as well, especially in their “naturalness” in playing their roles.   He in his cool editor role who resists being regarded above his staff and she in her obviously caring but crack reporter role. 

       Actually, the whole ensemble is outstanding.  Liev Schreiber plays a boss that we would all like to have in his wisdom, listening ear, and smooth direction of the team.  Stanley Tucci delivers another of his nuanced performances (with hair this time!) as an outsider in a community that doesn’t seem to want to pay attention to what he has to say.  Billy Crudup and John Slattery round out an altogether fine cast.

      Obviously, I think Spotlight is one of the better films this year owing to the high level of movie-making production and ethical/moral values it epitomizes.

This is a fine film in just about every way.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland