Spielberg in top form

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2003)

In the 1960s a young man named Frank Abagnale Jr (Leonardo Di Caprio) forged his way into a lifestyle that included designer clothing, girls and flying. His story is a fascinating study of how naïve the world was then and how easy it was for an intelligent man to convince people that he was genuine. Have times really changed? Steven Spielberg is still channelling Stanley Kubrick and he delivers a dark comedy, which moves at a frenetic pace underscored by a jazzy soundtrack. On the surface, this film looks fluffy and brainless but take a look at the way the director uses things we take for granted. There are numerous references to Christmas in this film and forget the jolly holiday  Christmas is presented as a dark and lonely time when bad things happen and loneliness digs its claws in. FBI Agent Hanratty (Tom Hanks) works on Christmas Eve and receives a call from a guilty Abagnale, a small Christmas tree one of the only sources of light in the room. Abagnale's discovery in France is at Christmas time while carollers sing pious songs. Abagnale is arrested outside his mother's new home; never getting to enjoy the Christmas treats inside. The world is presented according to Kubrick who believed that the world was a thoroughly unlikeable place and people cruel and self obsessed. This is one of the major themes in this film. Frank's father (an excellent Christopher Walken) is hounded by the IRS and abandoned by his French wife Paula (Nathalie Baye) and remains a broken shell of a man, still clinging to the sham that is the American Dream, never realising his full potential. His son runs away from all this pain, and running is an important motif in the film, and seeks solace through money. An ironic film reference to Forrest Gump (1994 ) involves a banknote floating in front of Tom Hanks reinforcing thematically that this race is for money, not fulfilment or spiritual comfort. Hanratty is just as obsessed as Abagnale and that the two should end up together is one of the film's strongest metaphors.
Spielberg does not show us the whole story. He cuts and jumps and never gives us the full picture  what is left out is just as intriguing as what is shown. There is resonance in the gaps and silences in the film and the symbols further enhance the ride. Lots of this film takes place in temporary accommodation such as hotels and rented apartments. Hotels being the symbol for transience and impermanence, the rooms are filled with trolleys of half eaten food, consumed alone, and the family home is broken up by debt early on in the film. Everyone in the film is eager for something greener  the young girls duped into becoming stewardesses, the naïve Brenda (Amy Adams) who is manipulated by parents and lovers alike and Hanratty himself, who is searching obsessively for his Holy Grail in the form of Abagnale. Hanratty never tries to understand Abagnale and even mispronounces his name. He is a loner who has no time for people only results.
The score by John Williams (unlike his usual stuff) enhances the film and there are some very clever credits, which reinforce the feel of the era. There are sloppy errors in the production design, which are annoying, but the look of the film is one of its biggest assets. Spielberg uses period camera angles and editing and the photography is a delight. Janusz Kaminski knows his way around a camera and uses it to tell a story, to characterise and to make subtle points. An example is when Frank Jr meets a young woman in a hotel corridor. The camera focuses on the shoes of each character. Shoes in themselves being sexual symbols gives the scene much more resonance that if it were conventionally filmed.
Spielberg has certainly grown up as a director. AI (2001) was a great film. That the general public didn't get its cynical take on humankind says a lot about how audiences see movies and how they are manipulated to accept the trite and the banal. Minority Report (2002) was a dark, brooding satisfying film and Catch Me If You Can while not as cerebral as the previous two, still does not fail to entertain and to please. This little black duck was very pleased thank you very much.