With a smoldering inner fire, David Strathairn
quite literally becomes legendary newsman Edward
R. Murrow in George Clooney's second directorial
outing named after Murrow's signature sign-off,
"Good Night, and Good Luck."
Long a respected character actor and key player
in numerous indie films, Strathairn was a
brilliant casting choice as the widely respected
newsman whose pointed and comprehensive
investigation of the tactics of Wisconsin
Senator Joseph McCarthy would eventually trigger
McCarthy's own self-destruction. From his first
moments onscreen, it becomes nearly impossible
to not be hypnotized by Strathairn's
characterization of Murrow. From the ever
present cigarette to his impenetrable presence
to his quiet convictions, Strathairn's Murrow
consumes the screen with subtlety, power and
authenticity.
Unlike in his directorial debut, "Confessions of
a Dangerous Mind," here Clooney consistently
chooses substance over style and clearly trusts
the source material enough to avoid novelty and
eccentricity in presentation. Perhaps being the
son of a newsman, Clooney felt comfortable
recreating this world or, perhaps, he simply
felt comfortable at the helm of this film he
directed and co-wrote. Regardless of the
reasons, "Good Night, and Good Luck" is an
exercise in quiet, subtle filmmaking in which
Clooney avoids the gimmicks and novelties that
distracted from his otherwise wonderful
directing debut.
Clooney presents "Good Night, and Good Luck" in
black and white, and brilliantly utilizes actual
footage of McCarthy throughout the film. Robert
Elswit's stunning cinematography perfectly
matches the appearance of McCarthy's footage
without losing quality or becoming a
distraction. The production design is equally as
exemplary in catching both the claustrophobic
feel of a 50's newsroom and the inherent
paranoia of the McCarthy era.
Strathairn, while clearly the star of "Good
Night, and Good Luck" is surrounded by an
ensemble cast that uniformly presents characters
of tremendous diversity and complexity. This
film could easily have been transformed into a
left-wing propaganda piece, and while it would
be clearly more pleasing to the left it is
presented in such a way that each character is
clearly possessed with strengths, weaknesses,
skeletons and conviction. While the script does
occasionally lack in character and history
development, it fits the era well as this was a
time when one couldn't, without fear of
repercussions, truly expose one's complete
character to anyone.
The ensemble cast plays these little moments of
paranoia perfectly without ever resorting to
histrionics or caricature. The perfect example
is Frank Langella's multi-layered performance of
CBS head William S. Paley. It would be easy to
peg Paley as EITHER the courageous executive who
advocated for Murrow and gave him tremendous
freedom OR as the patronizing, weak-spined
executive who fostered the atmosphere of fear at
CBS. In reality, both points of view would be
accurate, and Langella beautifully captures a
man trying to balance corporate, political and
fiscal responsibility with moral fortitude and
deep loyalty.
Likewise, strong and multi-layered performances
are offered by Clooney himself as producer Fred
Friendly, Ray Wise as the tragic Don Hollenbeck
and Jeff Daniels as Sig Mickelson. As husband
and wife Joe and Shirley Wershba, Robert Downey,
Jr. and Patricia Clarkson are hindered a tad by
underwritten characters that seem without aim or
focus throughout the film. Late in the film, we
learn that they must keep their marriage a
secret as CBS has a clear policy against married
couples working at the network, however, this
symbolism is largely lost in the under-written
and misdirected characterizations. Still, both
Downey and Clarkson do the best they can with
the roles, though Clarkson also gets bogged down
in the female caricatures of the 1950's that
seem to be presented here.
The film is largely shot in episodes, and each
episode is divided by scenes of jazz singer
Dianne Reeves singing in a nearby studio. While
the music is largely effective, I must confess
this sort of interlude also brought to mind
scenes from "American Psycho," where episodes
and killings are often divided by pop music.
This association, of course, took me away from
the mood of the film and pulled me dramatically
out of the action. Nevertheless, I doubt many
would make this association and while the music
appeared to have no thematic significance it
certainly accentuated the mood nicely.
"Good Night, and Good Luck" merits Oscar
consideration in several categories, including
Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Strathairn) and
Best Cinematography. While undoubtedly one of
2005's best films, "Good Night, and Good Luck"
is a dark horse, at best, for a Best Picture
nomination.
Rated PG, "Good Night and Good Luck" is a
powerful film for family viewing that could open
the door to discussions about family,
friendship, loyalty, politics and a variety of
other topics. With "Good Night, and Good Luck",
Clooney proves himself to be one of America's up
and coming directors of intelligent, powerful
independent film.
©
Written by Richard
Propes
TC Candler's Comment
The
speech that bookends the film should merit a
mandatory broadcast at the end of each night
before the networks shut up shop for their
overnight infomercials. It should also play on a
loop at every journalism school building in
America. And every school kid should have to
write a paper on it. This is an important film
with an eloquent and poised performance from
David Strathairn. He should be nominated
for an Oscar.
Jacob
Hall's Comment
n/a
