REVIEWS
The Ides Of March REVIEWED BY LEE MARSHALL GALA
A dark and well-crafted parable of US political eth- ics — or the lack of them — George Clooney’s sec- ond delve into the political arena after Good Night, And Good Luck confirms his talents as director and the creative fertility of his screenwriting and pro- ducing partnership with Grant Heslov. And in his compelling performance as a young, politically committed campaign press secretary who learns to trade dirt and sell his soul, it also consecrates Ryan Gosling’s apparently inexorable rise from indie promise to Oscar-booking leading man. It is paradoxically the neatness of the script that
is the film’s only real fault, as the David Mamet-like switchbacks of the later stages reveal that what started as an intelligent and often darkly comic analysis of the Realpolitik of presidential cam- paigns is actually more of a conventional power- play thriller. But this flirtation with the genre mainstream
will only boost The Ides Of March’s commercial prospects compared to the talky, austere Good Night, And Good Luck. Sony has brought forward the release date from December to mid-October, which suggests a swaggering confidence and the prospect of a muscular awards-season campaign that should be echoed by upbeat box office (at least as much international as domestic) for this stylish and just a little retro drama of political abasement. Close in storyline and occasionally in mood to
Michael Ritchie’s 1972 political satire The Candidate but with shades of Sidney Lumet and a cut or two from Robert Altman’s unforgiving ironic scalpel, The Ides Of March follows in the recent tradition of films such as Michael Clayton or People I Know, making disenchantment tasty in true 1970s style. The story centres on a make-or-break Demo-
cratic primary in Ohio on March 15 — the famous ‘ides’ of Julius Caesar’s back-stabbing assassina- tion — between two presidential candidates. Our man, Governor Mike Morris (Clooney), is a slick
US. 2011. 101mins Director George Clooney Production companies Exclusive Films International, Cross Creek Pictures, Crystal City Entertainment, Smokehouse, Appian Way International sales Exclusive Films International, www.
exclusivemedia.com Producers Grant Heslov, George Clooney, Brian Oliver Executive producers Leonardo DiCaprio, Stephen Pevner, Nigel Sinclair, Guy East, Todd Thompson, Nina Wolarsky, Jennifer Killoran, Barbara A Hall Screenplay George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, based on Willimon’s play Farragut North Cinematography Phedon Papamichael Editor Stephen Mirrione Production designer Sharon Seymour Music Alexandre Desplat Main cast Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood
n 8 Screen International at the Toronto Film Festival September 9, 2011
political animal but also a seemingly good and sin- cere reformer, who is not afraid to defend his reli- gious agnosticism in TV debates, espouse ‘socialist’ policies, defend a woman’s right to choose and (in a neat combination of homeland security and Green agenda that plenty of US politi- cians will be wishing they had thought of — or maybe they have) push non-fossil fuel alternatives, so reducing dependence on Arab oil, as an essen- tial part of the war on terrorism. The nice thing about Gosling’s character,
Stephen Myers, is that he is not exactly an idealist: as Morris’ campaign press secretary, and working closely with his mentor and campaign manager Paul Zara (Hoffman), he is not afraid to smear the rival candidate to buy time and votes, or use the press (in the form of Marisa Tomei’s New York Times correspondent Ida Horowicz) to plant stories. But he is clearly fired by a belief in the greater
good, and how Morris will change the country for the better once elected. His problem is hubris: an enfant prodigy of only 30, he gets off on the sexy adrenalin of the campaign and his own talent so much that he makes two big mistakes — agreeing
to a meeting with cynical rival campaign manager Tom Duffy (Giamatti, never more insidious), and bedding pert and forward young intern Molly Stearns (Wood). Clooney has less screen time, but he nails perfectly that baffling mix of substance and vacuousness that so many politicians display, without ever quite losing our sympathy. The Ides Of March wrong-foots us as it
progresses, starting off in affable satirical mode but turning bleak and implacable as Stephen wins by sacrificing what made him care, and what makes him human. The tight script and steady- handed control of atmosphere help out Gosling here: settings in Ohio and Michigan are chosen to good effect to channel a mid-West that is miles from the usual heartland clichés. Icy slush on the streets, brown rivers under industrial ironwork bridges, cheap bars and chain hotels are the back- drops to Phedon Papamichael’s moodily-lit cine- matography, which darkens with the story. Alexandre Desplat’s score also convinces, its sol- emn, sometimes militaristic drum and trumpet melodies playing a game of disturbing counter- point in the film’s lighter first half.
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