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Burdened by the weight of history
Source: Agencies |
November 18, 2012, Sunday
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FOR anyone who cringed just a little while watching the trailer for "Lincoln" and worried that it might be a near-parody of a Steven Spielberg film, with its heartfelt proclamations, sentimental tones and inspiring John Williams score, fret not.
The movie itself is actually a lot more reserved than that - more a wonky, nuts-and-bolts lesson about the way political machinery operates than a sweeping historical epic that tries to encapsulate the entirety of the revered 16th president's life. That was a smart move on the part of Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner.
Talky and intimate but also surprisingly funny, "Lincoln" focuses on the final four months of Abraham Lincoln's life as he fought for the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, and strived to unite a nation torn apart by the Civil War. This period provides a crucible to display what Lincoln was made of, his folksiness and fortitude.
Totally unsurprisingly, Daniel Day-Lewis inhabits the role fully. He disappears into it with small details and grand gestures, from his carriage to the cadence of his speech, and the Academy should probably just give him the best actor Oscar now and get it over with. Although "Lincoln" often feels too conservative, stagey and safe, Day-Lewis' performances is full of so many clever choices that he keeps it compelling.
This is a movie that's easier to admire than love; it's impressive but not exactly moving. But it is unexpectedly humorous. Tommy Lee Jones does a spin on his cantankerous screen persona as the quick-witted, fiercely verbal Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens, a strong proponent of abolition.
There are almost too many great supporting players in tantalizingly small parts. It gets to the point where major figures in Lincoln's life - Sally Field as his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as his elder son who's eager to see combat - don't register as powerfully as they should because the script is so packed. And that effort to contain so much history in one feature film extends to the ending. There's a beautifully photographed moment that occurs before his assassination that would have left the film on a perfectly lovely, poignant note.
Instead, it keeps going - and becomes the movie you feared "Lincoln" would be.
The movie itself is actually a lot more reserved than that - more a wonky, nuts-and-bolts lesson about the way political machinery operates than a sweeping historical epic that tries to encapsulate the entirety of the revered 16th president's life. That was a smart move on the part of Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner.
Talky and intimate but also surprisingly funny, "Lincoln" focuses on the final four months of Abraham Lincoln's life as he fought for the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, and strived to unite a nation torn apart by the Civil War. This period provides a crucible to display what Lincoln was made of, his folksiness and fortitude.
Totally unsurprisingly, Daniel Day-Lewis inhabits the role fully. He disappears into it with small details and grand gestures, from his carriage to the cadence of his speech, and the Academy should probably just give him the best actor Oscar now and get it over with. Although "Lincoln" often feels too conservative, stagey and safe, Day-Lewis' performances is full of so many clever choices that he keeps it compelling.
This is a movie that's easier to admire than love; it's impressive but not exactly moving. But it is unexpectedly humorous. Tommy Lee Jones does a spin on his cantankerous screen persona as the quick-witted, fiercely verbal Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens, a strong proponent of abolition.
There are almost too many great supporting players in tantalizingly small parts. It gets to the point where major figures in Lincoln's life - Sally Field as his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as his elder son who's eager to see combat - don't register as powerfully as they should because the script is so packed. And that effort to contain so much history in one feature film extends to the ending. There's a beautifully photographed moment that occurs before his assassination that would have left the film on a perfectly lovely, poignant note.
Instead, it keeps going - and becomes the movie you feared "Lincoln" would be.
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