The two films reviewed today talk about deception, dissembling, and how we can pile up one lie on top of another to create a life and history. One is a true crime drama, the second based on an Olen Steinhauer novel.
Georgetown (HBO Go) - Those of a certain generation will remember a TV series called Peyton Place, and how the mere mention of the two words conjured up an atmosphere of scandal, deep secrets, and deception. That’s perhaps what the producers of Georgetown had in mind, as this film relates a true crime drama that happened in 2014, and scandalized all of Georgetown and Washington, DC. By simply calling the show Georgetown, they’d like to suggest that the suburb is a hothouse of intrigue, dissembling, and playing for high stakes. At the center of the controversy is the middle-aged Ulrich Mott (Christoph Waltz), married to a rich woman far more senior than him, who was a living legend in DC circles, as a newsmen and adviser to Presidents.
This rich doyenne of Washington power circles is played by Vanessa Redgrave, and Annette Benning plays the daughter who harbors deep suspicions about the motives and credentials of Ulrich. If there’s one reservation I would have about fully recommending this film, it’s how the adaptation takes great pain in relaying the How of the crime, even going back decades for us to appreciate the sequence of events; but never probes too deeply into the Why - or us going beyond the surface, in understanding the character Ulrich Mott. The historical revisionism of his personal life is all well and good, but we never connect to the person and just dispassionately watch the unfolding of events. Given the powerhouse actors assembled, I feel that’s a shame we didn’t go deeper.
All the Old Knives (Amazon Prime) Based on an Olen Steinhauer novel, and with Steinhauer himself writing the adapted screenplay; you’ll either be of two minds about this film. One train of thought will say Steinhauer would clearly know the material and retain the magic of the novel, with all the internalizing now brought out in the open. Or you’ll say he’s too close to the material and thereby too invested in replicating the novel, without understanding what makes a watchable thriller - as opposed to a readable one. Either way, what both parties will probably agree on is that this is an Old School-type of CIA spy thriller, and that if there’s a gnawing problem, it’s that it’s too cerebral, and hinges more on conversation and analysis, with action sacrificed.
Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton play CIA operatives who worked together in Vienna some 8 years ago, and were there when a Turkish Airline hijacking became a celebrated case. Laurence Fishburne plays the agency station head at the time; and Jonathan Pryce is a another operative who was close to Newton’s character. With the constant interchange between two timelines, we’re given the story of how it suddenly surfaces that the disastrous handling of the hijacking could be because there was a mole back then, and now Chris Pine has to try and uncover the mole and eliminate that person, even if it’s the woman he was in a relationship with at the time. Lots of potential here, but it’s a case of the book faring much better than the transition to film. Nothing really wrong, but this LeCarré-territory film never fully combusts.