Review: "Spotlight"

Director: Tom McCarthy
Runtime: 128 minutes


A meticulous dramatization of real events, Tom McCarthy's Spotlight makes a compelling case in favor of journalism done right. Though the Catholic Church sex abuse scandals have been in the global limelight for nearly two decades, this trip back to the explosive 2002 Boston Globe story remains queasily relevant. Without giving into either lurid spectacle or a traditional white knight narrative, McCarthy's new film exhibits the very journalistic qualities that it celebrates. In Spotlight, American cinema has produced a work of cinematic journalism that deserves to sit on the same lofty shelf as All the President's Men. 

Like President's Men or Zodiac, what Spotlight does so well is fully throw itself into the tedium of the story's details without becoming tedious itself. Montages can be a cheap shortcut to cut through large amounts of time or activity, but McCarthy and editor Tom McArdle incorporate them without ever making a false move. Spotlight runs just over two hours, and every scene is carefully orchestrated to build to the next. This can make the initial set up seem a bit dry (seeing as we know that yes, the Globe's Spotlight team will eventually take on the case). But the eventual payoff is, like a great work of news writing, compelling because it keeps a level head, and lets the facts speak for themselves.

That last bit is especially important when we consider the horrific crimes at the center of the story. The rather academic tone gives enough emotional heft to the story without amping up the material to make it "juicier." The Spotlight team (played by Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, and Brian D'Arcy James), as well as the audience, hear the disturbing details, but McCarthy and Josh Singer's script leaves enough to the imagination to avoid exploiting the situation. There are plenty of famous faces in Spotlight, but none of them are conveyed as being of equal importance to the greater impact of the story. 

But even though the film doesn't stand out as a performance showcase, McCarthy's actors bring respectable gravitas to the material. As a unit, the Spotlight team is basically different shades of a single character, and that ends up working in the film's favor. These men and women have outside lives, but those outside lives only intrude upon the central narrative when absolutely necessary. Every look we get inside the lives of these reporters adds fuel to the physical and emotional trajectory of the story. 

Beyond the performances, most of the below-the-line contributions do little to steal focus as well, which is for the best. Masanobu Takayanagi's camera frequently moves, but in a way that further draws one into the immensity of the investigation. In one of the simplest, and most expressive shots, the camera merely drifts backwards as the Spotlight team listens to a source over a speakerphone. As we learn what the characters learn, the frame widens, visually complementing the sudden expansion of the abuse scandal's scope. Spotlight may rely heavily on talking, but it still finds room for subtle (even invisible) moments of thoughtful visual composition. 

Other tech contributions, including Howard Shore's simple score, are appropriately invisible. Beyond the screenplay and direction, McArdle's deft cutting deserves the most praise for stitching together so much information all while allowing it to develop so smoothly. As it is in journalism, so it is in filmmaking: having a sharp eye in the editor's chair is crucial into shaping a well-intentioned vision into a legitimate work of impactful art. 


Grade: A-

Review: "Return"

Director: Liza Johnson
Runtime: 97 minutes

Linda Cardellini's performance in Liza Johnson's Return immediately reminded me of Marion Cotillard's work in Rust and Bone. Not because the roles have a great deal in common (though there is some shared thematic territory), but because both performances involve the actresses making the most of relatively thin material. Cardellini's work, however, is stuck in a film that, despite its maturity, never achieves anything noteworthy. Return is a film of purposefully modest ambitions, yet one can't help but feel that perhaps Johnson should have opened the film's character's up more to provide more to latch onto and understand. The old saying tells us that less is more, but in this case, having "less" ends up working against the film and its strong central performance.

Return's story is simple, yet ripe with potential. Army soldier Kelli (Cardellini) returns home from a tour of duty, and must readjust to life at home, even as the people she knows have changed. Kelli's husband Mike (Michael Shannon) tries to keep things normal, but as Kelli reconnects with neighbors and co-workers, she learns some unpleasant truths. Had it been more successful, the piece would make a nice companion film to The Hurt Locker (which only briefly showcases the stagnation that the real world presents to returning soldiers).

What drags the film down, unfortunately, is a somewhat dry narrative. The script tries to balance scenes that illustrate Kelli's discomfort with her old life, while also informing us of who she was before her tour of duty. To her credit, Johnson stages the former incidents with an understated naturalism, never going overboard to beat us over the head with Kelli's alienation. Yet in trying to establish who Kelli was, Johnson flounders a bit with the execution by presenting too little to understand or draw our own conclusions. 

Thankfully, Cardellini is front and center the entire way through, which helps the film even in its thinnest moments. Skilled at both comedy and drama, this is perhaps the biggest showcase the actress has had to carry entirely on her own, and she does it with aplomb. She makes the most of Kelli's journey, even when Johnson's script gives her little more to work with than being blank and uncomfortable. This is not a performance of big moments, but Cardellini makes the more prominent flashes of emotion register with graceful restraint. Her relationships with her husband, and especially with her two young daughters carry a beautiful authenticity that is never made overbearing or cloying. 

Ultimately, Return works best when it moves its character study elements into more interesting situations. Watching Kelli sit around on the couch in a stupor isn't nearly as interesting or insightful as her interactions with her AA group later on. The problem is that Johnson takes too long to move her protagonist into the more dynamic parts of the limited plot, thereby undercutting the power of the finale. The uncertainty about how to address the war (and Kelli's involvement, to a lesser extent) mitigates investment in Kelli's story, despite Cardellini's strong work, and the maturity of the writing. As character pieces go, Return certainly touches on an important subject matter, but it's altogether too slight and too cautious to achieve any sort of impact outside of its central performance.

Grade: B-/C+