‘Tesla’ is eclectic but needs more electricity
Here are a couple of things you might not know about Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla: He held close to 200 patents. He was on the cover of Time magazine on July
20, 1931.
Here are a couple of questions to ponder: Did he invent fluorescent lightbulbs? Did he — not Marconi — invent radio?
A scene, early on in the atmospheric and arty and often perplexing “Tesla,” shows an unnamed woman sitting at a laptop computer, mentioning a few historical facts about Tesla, then noting how little is really known about him. The scene is supposedly taking place sometime around 1900 ... and she’s at a laptop ... and she’s suggesting that viewers look him up on Google. What?
Freely jumping around in time and place, the film opens in 1884 with Tesla (1856-1943), newly hired at Edison Machine Works, sitting with a small group of other engineers, listening to Thomas Edison chatter away. An offscreen narrator — that woman who will later be seen at the laptop — explains what’s going on.
A bit of animosity arises between Edison and Tesla over some money, then our narrator returns, now with some biographical info on Edison. It’s soon clear that this is going to be a quiet, brooding, talkative film that, though bearing the title “Tesla,” won’t be revealing a lot about him.
But there are also praises to be sung of it ... and, watch out, there’s some singing, too!
Tesla (Ethan Hawke) is presented as a workaholic dullard, a man for whom nothing is more important than bringing his scientific ideas to life and then to fruition. Edison (Kyle MacLachlan), approaching midlife, seems to be in the inventing game for the money, and comes across as kind of a jerk. That narrator, who keeps switching between on- and off-camera, is Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson), the daughter of industrialist J.P. Morgan. Upon meeting Tesla, she begins a flirtation, eventually telling him, “You need me.”
While the performances are uniformly good, too many other components weigh the film down. The narration is jarring, and the gimmick is overused.
“Tesla” opens in select theaters and drive-ins, and will be available on most VOD and cable platforms, Aug. 21.