Spielberg falls short of winning Post
Meticulously crafted, perfectly paced and brilliantly acted, the only thing that lets this terrific 1970s-set thriller down is too many ideas.
That could be a result of a rapidfire production, or 2017’s constantly changing landscape, but The Post seems caught between wanting to be a political thriller, paean to the diminishing freedom of the press and a portrait of female empowerment all at once.
That’s not say it’s not damn entertaining or seriously thoughtprovoking, but first-time screenwriter Liz Hannah and Josh Singer’s script occasionally seems to lurch a little too jerkily as it shifts its focus.
After an initial scene-setting 1966 prologue, we’re transported to Washington 1971 and the offices of The Washington Post. As we join Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) and his team, they’re facing a crisis.
Unhappy with their previous behaviour, President Nixon has banned them covering attending his daughter Trisha’s wedding.
However, as the editorial innersanctum plot ways to work around the problem, perhaps by enlisting the help of their great rivals The New York Times, there’s growing disquiet at the lack of activity from The Times‘ Vietnam reporter.
Concerned that he must be up to something big, Bradlee dispatches an intern to the Big Apple, only to discover they’re too late – The Times‘ front page contains an explosive story, based on leaked ‘‘Pentagon Papers’’, that successive presidency’s public proclamations about the war in South-East Asia have been very different from the truth.
‘‘Anyone else tired of reading the news, instead of reporting it?’’ sighs Bradlee.
But then, a combination of a judicial injunction against The Times and legwork by one of their own reporters, results in an opportunity to make the story their own.
There’s just one problem, the cash-strapped Post is in the middle of taking the company public and those around publisher Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep) don’t want anything to happen that might scare off potential investors.
Like Spielberg’s other nonWorld War II historical dramas Lincoln, Amistad and Munich, this is a drama filled with high ideas and memorable speeches.
Never has Tom Hanks invoked the spirit of Jimmy Stewart more than in playing Bradlee, delivering one liners like ‘‘if we live in a world where the President tells us what we can and cannot do then the Washington Post has already ceased to exist’’, which feel frighteningly relevant in today’s Trumpian times.
He’s supported by a terrific cast of character actors that include Bradley Whitfield, Bob Odenkirk and Bruce Greenwood, as well as Streep, who only truly comes into her own in the second-half of the film.
Teaming with regulars, composer John Williams and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, Spielberg does do a sterling job of attempting to coalesce ‘‘the tangle of conflicting opinions’’ about the war and publishing the leaked documents and evoking a tangible sense of old school journalism space and place (especially in one quite brilliant deadline-driven handwritten copy to printing press scene).
However, one can’t help feeling Singer and Tom McCarthy just did it slightly better in the Oscarwinning Spotlight.
Still, as a prequel to All the President’s Men, which Spielberg himself slyly sets it up as at the very end, this is ace. – James Croot Romola Garai, Anya Taylor-Joy and Alex Hassell star in this new BBC period thriller based on the popular 2014 book by Jessie Burton. Set in 1686, it’s the story of Nella Oortman (Taylor-Joy) who, after an arranged marriage, arrives in Amsterdam to begin her new life as the wife of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. However, when her husband presents her with a wedding gift of a cabinet that is a miniature replica of their home, she slowly realises the tiny creations mirror what is happening within the A cross between Kiwi rugby doco The Ground We Won and an Aussie Outback horror film, Peter Gleeson’s 2016 documentary is a compelling yet chilling watch. Set in the Western Australian