The Assassination of Richard Nixon

“Inspired by a true story”, this film tells the tale of a man who simply could not take it anymore, with his job sucking all the goodness from his insides, his ex-wife moving on and not really giving two shits about him and the nation as a whole, being transfixed by the “evil” that, in his eyes, was based around the President of the United States at the time, Richard Nixon. As the man tries to better his life, the bad luck of his draw seems to follow him around, until…

This has gotta be one of the
slowest, most methodical movies of the year, one that takes its time about
taking time, but really had me from the get-go, with not very much to go on in
actual “plot”, but plenty to go on in terms of the highest of acting acumen
in the form of the great American thespian Sean Penn, who blew me out of the
water with yet another truly original, exact, almost form-shifting performance,
that can be described best with a certain word that tickles my fancy:
tour-de-force. This film is the very definition of a “character study” with
the lead man on the edge’s slowly-burning-lit-fuse truly engrossing me in his
day-to-day shenanigans. I didn’t believe that anyone could top Christian
Bale’s showing from THE
MACHINIST this year, but by minute five of this picture, I was completely
enraptured in the nerve-wrackingly simmering performance by Penn, who takes a
character that can so obviously be likened to Travis Bickle from TAXI
DRIVER in many ways (even his last name is Bicke here), but who empowers him
with an incredible combination of stillness, weight, patheticness and
desperation, while at the same time, allowing the lines in his face (the man
doesn’t crack a smile all film!), his seemingly righteous attitude and obvious
moral attempt to swim out of the greed-based muck that seems to have engulfed
society around him, to allow us to empathize and follow him all the way through
his sick mind and an ending that implodes upon impact. Director Niels Mueller
also has a lot to do with the film’s success, as he takes a similar trajectory
as Martin Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER, but sets the film’s in a less grungy and
street level, connecting us with people close to the lead character, while at
the same time, giving us a true sense of oncoming and, almost inevitable, doom.

Lots
of people obviously believe in this guy as well, with directors Alexander Payne,
Alfonso Cuaron and actor Leonardi DiCaprio involved in the production on this
film in various ways. Scenes featuring Penn’s character narrating to us with
Leonard Bernstein’s musical score sounding in the background, helped the film
develop an even more claustrophobic feeling and sense of growing isolation. The
film is all about Penn’s character and his inability to deal with the setbacks
in his life, as well as the sane and mature responsibilities that come with life
in the 20^th century, but plenty of side characters added to the
film’s deeper tapestry, including small, but important, turns from Naomi Watts
and Don Cheadle, as well as two surprising presences in an unrecognizable
Michael Wincott and an actor who I’d never really noticed before, but made a
nice impact here as Penn’s know-it-all boss, Jack Thompson. This is not a film
for the “action fan” or even those who prefer the straightforward
biographical pictures (the movie is said to be “inspired” by a true story,
which always makes it difficult to know what really happened/didn’t happen),
but if you love character dramas about troubled beings who just can’t seem to
get a hold of their lives, to the point that they start to develop other
unhealthy fixations or “solutions”, this film is sure to rate right up
there, particularly if you’re a big fan of Sean Penn, who once again, proves
to the world that he can completely inhabit another human being on screen, and
make us want to watch him over and over and over again…no matter how nuts he
may be!

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian