Saturday Note: Trumbo
Although I went to the movies yesterday, and saw most of Trumbo, I’m not counting it as a Friday Movie; at any rate, I’m not writing it up. I wanted to see Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne), but was shut out both times, not factoring in the (by me unguessed-at) popularity of this recently-opened film, which happens to be showing only in two rather smallish New York theatres.
Trumbo is a good picture, and anyone unfamiliar with the blacklisted screenwriter’s story ought to see it. I did not much care for the extreme close-ups of very shaggy faces belonging to a few of the famous actors who gave dramatic readings of Trumbo’s letters — but Joan Allen quivering at the edge of tears broke me down as well, and Nathan Lane did a predictably dandy job with what’s got to be the best father-to-son letter on the subject of masturbation ever. Perhaps it’s just that I’m not crazy about seeing documentaries in theatres.
What I did in between attempts to see Tell No One can be seen here.