Post by sgev1977 on Jan 10, 2019 14:38:46 GMT
Sorry for the long post.
I watched and I have to say that I was wrong about people not understanding BC as an actor and saying his Cummings is like Sherlock just because. At the beginning of the movie his Cumming indeed comes across as a type of Sherlock. It’s not about the baggage of the actor is just that clearly the director is making references to Sherlock and I say the director because BC’s performance is far from his old role and I’m not sure it’s fully in the writing either (he seems smart and it’s rude with fools but there is more) but it’s indeed in the direction.
Sherlock is a bigger than life character, theatrical and extremely cold at the same type. One of the greatest strengths of BC as an actor is that his performances are always multi-layered and there are very strong flashes of humanity in his character. That’s what made it so fascinating but still it’s a super-hero. A character from another world barely understood by we, mere humans. That’s not the case with Cummings, he is much more human and played in a much discreet naturalistic way. I would dare to say that he is even more human than his Assange because him was mainly presented as a mystery seen from the point of view of his increasingly disaffected protégé. The early part of this movie is clearly all about his point of view so we are invited to see things from his perspective. He is rude but we know those people deserved it, much more than anyone offended by Sherlock. BUT he is also accepting since the beginning that all what he says it’s a lie. More problematic, it’s explicitly said (at least three times), that he used/tolerate/let Farange and Banks to do their racist campaign and benefit of it meanwhile he washed his hand publicly not making them part of the official campaign. I had the idea they didn’t centered on it based in criticisms but again it was expressed very straightforward a few times during the film (More about it later). He also abuses of the fake idea that Turkey could join to the EU, which it’s racist in itself.
So if anything, his character relates more to Richard III, someone we identify who do amoral things and increasingly is becoming more unhinged until he lost his soul. The scene when he hears British people is very interesting. I can see how if it were a play that scene could work as a metaphor of peak identification with the pain of the people (before the huge disappointment) but on screen is another thing. As some article said, BC plays it in a so credible way that you believe not that he can actually listening the British people but that he BELIEVES he can. You begin to see him as a mad man.
On the other side, it’s Oliver/Kinnear which it’s also a much more complex than he seems. In some way he is the moral heart of the story and everything he says about Cumming is gradually becoming clear are truth (he is not a prophet; he is doing vacuous promises he isn’t even in position of fulfill; he is a liar and a madman; he just wants to destroy the system without having any idea what to do next) but he also it’s indeed smug and short-tempered with people he sees as not so intelligent or cultured as him. That’s his big mistake and he is intelligent enough to see it but by then it’s too late. And that’s the difference between both characters. Cummings is a fraud. He indeed cites a lot of philosophers but there isn’t any suggestion he actually understand them. He is smart enough to exploit and feed the rage of disenfranchised people who has been ignored for years by formal politicians but he isn’t intelligent enough to understand what he is doing; Craig understand but he is so above them that it’s too late when he comprehends he shouldn’t have ignored them.
Also it’s say that this wasn’t the work of just one man. The guy does a brilliant publicity campaign but has Oliver says, the campaign has decades without they even knowing it. That section of disenfranchised people is there and has been feeding themselves with resentment for years. Cumming and co. just opened the door for them.
Jo Cox’s murdered is presented in a very respected way and clearly they tried not to abuse of it but at the same time is central to the story because after that comes the confrontation between both campaign leaders and even when compressively Graham doesn’t directly blame anyone for the murder, he clearly puts some of the responsibility on Cumming’s shoulders: “you opened the box…” And that’s clear in BC’s reaction to RK’s words and in that scene of the victory alone in his office, he actually seems to be crying and not of joy! He said the infamous “c…” against Farange but it seems to me that it contains some of self-hating.
This is a very pro-Remain film so much that I’m surprised someone could think the opposite. The scenes in the future and VERY CLEARLY in the future and they explicitly said everything went wrong. Cummings tries to explain himself saying other’s destroyed his vision but it’s clear he didn’t have any vision at all. He comes as a huge fool in that final scene.
My only criticism is that I don’t enjoy too much fast-moving films and it bothered it me a little the edition, especially the early scenes that seems more fast montage than a film. The music is great and it indeed sounds inspired in A Clockwork Orange.
It’s a good little TV movie, it’s incompressible why someone would be so scared of it. It’s not at the level of Patrick Melrose, tho. That’s still the best thing BC has made.
I watched and I have to say that I was wrong about people not understanding BC as an actor and saying his Cummings is like Sherlock just because. At the beginning of the movie his Cumming indeed comes across as a type of Sherlock. It’s not about the baggage of the actor is just that clearly the director is making references to Sherlock and I say the director because BC’s performance is far from his old role and I’m not sure it’s fully in the writing either (he seems smart and it’s rude with fools but there is more) but it’s indeed in the direction.
Sherlock is a bigger than life character, theatrical and extremely cold at the same type. One of the greatest strengths of BC as an actor is that his performances are always multi-layered and there are very strong flashes of humanity in his character. That’s what made it so fascinating but still it’s a super-hero. A character from another world barely understood by we, mere humans. That’s not the case with Cummings, he is much more human and played in a much discreet naturalistic way. I would dare to say that he is even more human than his Assange because him was mainly presented as a mystery seen from the point of view of his increasingly disaffected protégé. The early part of this movie is clearly all about his point of view so we are invited to see things from his perspective. He is rude but we know those people deserved it, much more than anyone offended by Sherlock. BUT he is also accepting since the beginning that all what he says it’s a lie. More problematic, it’s explicitly said (at least three times), that he used/tolerate/let Farange and Banks to do their racist campaign and benefit of it meanwhile he washed his hand publicly not making them part of the official campaign. I had the idea they didn’t centered on it based in criticisms but again it was expressed very straightforward a few times during the film (More about it later). He also abuses of the fake idea that Turkey could join to the EU, which it’s racist in itself.
So if anything, his character relates more to Richard III, someone we identify who do amoral things and increasingly is becoming more unhinged until he lost his soul. The scene when he hears British people is very interesting. I can see how if it were a play that scene could work as a metaphor of peak identification with the pain of the people (before the huge disappointment) but on screen is another thing. As some article said, BC plays it in a so credible way that you believe not that he can actually listening the British people but that he BELIEVES he can. You begin to see him as a mad man.
On the other side, it’s Oliver/Kinnear which it’s also a much more complex than he seems. In some way he is the moral heart of the story and everything he says about Cumming is gradually becoming clear are truth (he is not a prophet; he is doing vacuous promises he isn’t even in position of fulfill; he is a liar and a madman; he just wants to destroy the system without having any idea what to do next) but he also it’s indeed smug and short-tempered with people he sees as not so intelligent or cultured as him. That’s his big mistake and he is intelligent enough to see it but by then it’s too late. And that’s the difference between both characters. Cummings is a fraud. He indeed cites a lot of philosophers but there isn’t any suggestion he actually understand them. He is smart enough to exploit and feed the rage of disenfranchised people who has been ignored for years by formal politicians but he isn’t intelligent enough to understand what he is doing; Craig understand but he is so above them that it’s too late when he comprehends he shouldn’t have ignored them.
Also it’s say that this wasn’t the work of just one man. The guy does a brilliant publicity campaign but has Oliver says, the campaign has decades without they even knowing it. That section of disenfranchised people is there and has been feeding themselves with resentment for years. Cumming and co. just opened the door for them.
Jo Cox’s murdered is presented in a very respected way and clearly they tried not to abuse of it but at the same time is central to the story because after that comes the confrontation between both campaign leaders and even when compressively Graham doesn’t directly blame anyone for the murder, he clearly puts some of the responsibility on Cumming’s shoulders: “you opened the box…” And that’s clear in BC’s reaction to RK’s words and in that scene of the victory alone in his office, he actually seems to be crying and not of joy! He said the infamous “c…” against Farange but it seems to me that it contains some of self-hating.
This is a very pro-Remain film so much that I’m surprised someone could think the opposite. The scenes in the future and VERY CLEARLY in the future and they explicitly said everything went wrong. Cummings tries to explain himself saying other’s destroyed his vision but it’s clear he didn’t have any vision at all. He comes as a huge fool in that final scene.
My only criticism is that I don’t enjoy too much fast-moving films and it bothered it me a little the edition, especially the early scenes that seems more fast montage than a film. The music is great and it indeed sounds inspired in A Clockwork Orange.
It’s a good little TV movie, it’s incompressible why someone would be so scared of it. It’s not at the level of Patrick Melrose, tho. That’s still the best thing BC has made.