A seductive chess game of a film

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 2009)

A lot of critics have been writing that so many films this year have been elevated above their material by the sheer power of the actors' performances; "Frost/Nixon" is most definitely in that category, for me.
Writer Peter Morgan and director Ron Howard do give us just the right balance of historical information and theatrical anticipation to make the film work. At the beginning, the stage is set very cleverly and economically, filling in the segment of the audience who was too young (or too drunk and/or too stoned) to know about what happened at Watergate in the early 70's with Richard Nixon and his cronies. From there, we have a very well-done build-up to the actual interviews, from their inception, showing how Frost gets the initial idea, through how Nixon, who clearly needed some sort of outlet for his anguish over the events that caused him to resign the Presidency, decides to take the bait.
If the set-up hadn't been dramatic and interesting, it would have somewhat diminished what follows, but it still could not have destroyed the power of Frank Langella's soulfully stunning turn as Nixon. It's his movie, he commands every second of his screen time, with a performance that evokes Tricky Dick from the inside out, deep from the inside; he's said in interviews that he wasn't trying to look like Nixon (although, from the back, the similarity is uncanny) - he was attempting to show the man's soul, and in this regard he succeeds beyond any expectations, hopefully including his own.
The fact that Langella manages to make Nixon understandable and sympathetic is amazing in itself, but it's the way he does it that makes it all the more of an achievement. He shows us the humanity of the man, but in a subtle way which goes far beyond the words he's given in the script; it is this characteristic which elevates the film, makes it more than the sum of its parts, gives it a transcendent quality that stays with you long after you leave the theatre.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the amount of humor that found its way into the script; this isn't a dry lets-get-the-facts-straight-and-to-hell-with-everything-else sort of affair ~ it's entertaining, above all, it moves along at a brisk pace, and by the end of it you feel you've actually gotten to know both these people a little better, Nixon more than Frost: his character, I have to say, really didn't feel like the David Frost I've seen. Michael Sheen's portrayal was less arrogant and far more generous - by the last interview, you get the feeling he took no pleasure in his checkmate (Nixon's confession); I don't know how true this is to how it actually went down, and of course we'll never know, but the Frost I've seen appeared to have had a bit of a harder edge.