Flick of The Day: Lincoln

There are few historical figures more clothed in the endearing embrace of the passage of time than the 16^th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Time makes saints of the worst of men and Lincoln was a statesman and leader for the ages in his own lifetime.  In the years since his death he has become an almost mythic figure, the great emancipator and a man who symbolised all that could be borne of political will. The greatness of the United States, if such a thing can be said to exist, is tied up in men and women like Lincoln. To attempt a biographical film on his life and times is a tall order and one which Hollywood has attempted on more than one occasion. That a film-maker of the calibre of Steven Spielberg combined with a stellar cast is behind this latest effort should be a cause for excitement among cine-philes everywhere.

Eschewing, correctly in my opinion, the approach of previous directors of attempting to tell the story of Lincoln’s life’s work in favour of a focus on a brief few months toward the end of the gruelling civil war, Spielberg’s film attempts to document the passage of the 13th Amendment which abolished once and for all the abomination that was and is human slavery. We meet Lincoln on the margins of a rainy battlefield as he talks jovially with a pair of young black soldiers fighting for the Union side in that most bitter conflict. From this one scene it becomes apparent what an incredible performance Daniel Day Lewis has once again drawn forth from within himself. He inhabits the role completely down to the gait of the President. From this conversation with pair of soldiers, Lincoln resolves to pass the amendment in the democrat controlled house of representatives no matter the cost to his personal prestige or relationship with his fellow republicans.

Despite the protests of his Secretary of State, an excellent David Strathairn and his much put upon wife, a fine Sally Field, he pushes on seeking to grasp by any means necessary the votes he requires. To accomplish this, he must do two things. Firstly he has to secure the votes of his own party led by an aged Hal Holbrook who demands that a negotiated peace be sought with the confederacy. This will lead inevitably to the defeat of the bill so it must be held off. Secondly, he must procure through the use of state favours, 20 democratic votes. To this end he hires a firm of lobbyists led by Mr W.N. Bilbo, a fantastically entertaining performance from James Spader to procure the necessary votes. Yet even at this point, the passage of the bill is not assured with Lincoln having to involve the noted radical and abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens, again another superb performance from Tommy Lee Jones. Were these political troubles not enough, he also suffers with a wife who grieves for her lost son and another son, Robert, played by Joseph Gordon Levitt who yearns to play his part on the battlefield. That he manages to walk this difficult personal and political path while also fighting a war along with his most trusted General, Ulysses Grant, played by the always watch-able Jared Harris, is a tale in and of itself.

There is not a single weak performance in what is an excellently assembled cast. I realize reading the above that I have yet to even praise actors of the calibre of John Hawkes, Jackie Earle Haley or Tim Blake Nelson. 

The real achievement of both Spielberg and Day Lewis is that on one hand they shake the dust off the mythic status of Lincoln and humanise him so that he may be viewed as an ordinary man with flaws and difficulties while on the other they manage to put his achievements in a proper light and eulogise them for how ground-breaking they truly were. This is proper old school Hollywood film-making on a grand scale and deserves to rewarded as such. It will be a surprise if it fails to win most of the main acting awards as the forthcoming Academy Awards and yet this is a fine year for cinema with a number of equally excellent rivals.

Flick of The Day: Martha Marcy May Marlene

The Sundance Film Festival has over the years acted as the big break for a generation of young American filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Soderbergh. While it has in many ways abandoned its Indie roots for more mainstream fare, it is still a respected venue to launch a career.  Today's flick of the day is a winner of the Grand Jury Prize at last year's festival and the directing award for first time director Sean Durkin.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Elizabeth Olsen, younger sister of the world conquering Olsen twins, stars as the Martha of the title, a young woman who as the films opens is attempting to escape from the cult where she has lived for the past two years isolated from her family. She makes contact with her well to do sister and architect husband and soon finds herself ensconced in their lakeside summer house. However all is not well, Martha is haunted by her experiences while under the roof of malevolent leader Patrick, played by a superb John Hawkes surpassing his breakout performance in 2010's Winter's Bone. As her behaviour becomes more erratic, she pushes her hosts to breaking point and we learn in every more horrifying flashbacks the nature of her captivity and sexual servitude. All the while the tension mounts and Martha's paranoia about being dragged back to her old life becomes all too real.

Shot in a superb naturalistic style, this is a psychological thriller of the highest order. Durkin's choice of soft lighting and close shots give the film a dreamlike quality. This reinforces the haunting nature of the story and specifically the flashback scenes to Martha's time in the cult. Elizabeth Olsen has justly been lauded for her performance which manages to capture both the difficulty of adapting to life on the outside and the unsettling fear that everything is about to come crashing down around her. This sense of dread pervades the entire film and creates a tension that is never fully resolved.

If it is Olsen's performance which carries the film then it is John Hawkes which moves it to another level. He has created a character that echoes real life self styled messiahs like Charles Manson and David Koresh. Every scene he enters is corrupted by his oily charm which only later reveals itself to be hiding a murderous rage. Perhaps the most chilling scene is the gang's attempted home invasion which is surely influenced by the actions of Manson's Family. The eerie calm before the storm is deeply unsettling and it is a bravura performance. Saying that I do not want to take away from Elizabeth Olsen. She is a natural talent that is surely on the way to bigger things.

An excellent debut from Sean Durkin, this is one of the best films I have seen so far this year. All in all, a definite must see, this is an excellent thriller which makes the most of two fine performances from the leads.