Michael Corleone of Politics
I saw The Ides of March today, and loved it. I’ll give it a 4/5.
I really don’t understand the critics who gave this film an average rating. Most of the criticism that I have seen about this film has revolved around the fact that you don’t learn anything new about politics.
So? Why do you have to learn something new about politics? Did you learn something new about social networking in The Social Network? No.
This was a human story with the backdrop of politics. It was about the loss of innocence, the corruption of spirit, and finding the monster within. It does not end on a good note.
Ryan Gosling’s character here is sort of like the Michael Corleone of Politics. Once the masks are pulled off, the true nature of the people he’s surrounded by is revealed, he doesn’t waste time coming to grips with reality. He immediately assesses the rules of the game, and does what he must to move up on the power ladder. His performance deserves a consideration for an Oscar nomination, more so than his performance in Drive.
All of the supporting cast was great. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Max Minghella. Even though George Clooney pretty much acts the same here as he does in any movie he is in (and we don’t ever expect anything else from him) he does show some darker streaks of his personality.
I wouldn’t mind seeing the film itself get nominated for Best Pic either, but not at the expense of great films being unrecognized.
Credit to George Clooney for making some interesting directing choices. The confrontation between Morris and Stephen was incredibly tense, I especially liked the shot where Paul gets fired. Clooney chooses not to show what’s going on inside the vehicle, and leaves it to the imagination. The result is an anxious feeling a kin to that of waiting for a bomb to go off. The 3 room pan out dialogue shot was pretty unique too.
