I actually saw this two weeks ago before its Netflix release but I completely forgot to review amidst a busy week. So here we are, my review of one of the year's best films so far, The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Written and directed by writing legend Aaron Sorkin (writer of Moneyball and The Social Network), The Trial of the Chicago 7 follows the lengthy trial of a group of protestors accused of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Sorkin cleverly tells this story by cutting back and forth between the trial itself, and the events at the convention, leaving a film that is intelligently crafted and extremely applicable to the modern world.
This is likely the best ensemble cast we will see all year. The cast is stacked with a balance of Oscar winners, underrated but brilliant experienced actors, and incredibly talented up and comers. For me the stars of the show were Sacha Baron Cohen and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Baron Cohen plays Abbie Hoffman, one of the leaders of the protests and a massive hippie. Some of the narrative uses his character performing stand-up as a means of storytelling, and naturally he knocks this out of the park. He has a ton of hilarious moments, but its the way he contrasts those moments with scenes of genuine seriousness that makes this performance really leave an impact. Jeremy Strong plays another hippie Jerry Rubin, and the two work as a pair in this dichotomy between comedy and drama that makes their serious moments really hit hard. But as I said my other big standout is Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. He plays Bobby Seale, one of the founders of the Black Panther Party. This role really helps contextualize this film in the modern world, as Seale sees himself in court for something he was in no way involved because of his race. He is prejudiced against and is thus extremely frustrated and Abdul-Mateen shows this frustration incredibly well, even when he has no dialogue. Two other key players are former Oscar winners Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance. Redmayne is typically an actor I don't much care for, but he's really great here. His character can be frustrating at times, but he acts almost as the group's leader, and has some really strong moments of acting. Rylance is incredible in his role as the group's attorney. He has a very composed manner throughout the film, which makes moments where he loses it a bit really impressively shocking, and there's a scene in particular that I could see being his "Oscar" scene for this film. Other actors that do some great work are Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Carroll Lynch, Ben Shenkman, and Frank Langella, who plays the most frustrating character I've seen in a long ass time. Kelvin Harrison Jr also has a small role as Fred Hampton, which he did a great job of but also just got me more hyped for Daniel Kaluuya to take on the role in Judas and the Black Messiah.
This is Sorkin's second directorial effort, following up the very solid Molly's Game. The craft here is just simply better. Molly's Game is really good, but everything it does is done better in this film in my opinion. Sorkin tells this story in such an interesting way. Rather than start on the events that led to the trial, he starts right at the trial's beginning, then cleverly weaves through time to tell the story. The editing never falters, and the energy of his dialogue is really impressive. Sorkin just has a way of taking what should be boring bio-pics and injecting them with something special and this is no outlier. The recreation of the late 60s is also really impressive. The costumes while some are subtle all work really well, and the actors do a great job of acting as if they were in this time period. Also shoutout to Louise McCarthy and whoever did the film's hair styling if it wasn't her, because damn was the hair and makeup in this film impressive throughout.
This film can at times be hilarious, at times be insanely frustrating, and at times be absolutely heartbreaking. It tells a true story with a sense of pure gravitas that does a great job of showing the contemporary relevance of its subject. This is one of the year's best.
Rating: 4.4/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
what a read!! this is awesome
ReplyDelete