Brilliant Performance by Langella

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2008)

Frost/Nixon (2008)
**** (out of 4)
Intense and extremely well-acted account of the four interviews between British talk show host David Frost (Michael Sheen) and disgraced former President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella). This film doesn't seem to be ripping up at the box office, which is a real shame because Howard has created an incredibly well-made film that has plenty of wonderful drama as well as some of the best acting seen in recent years. I'm sure many will be familiar with the story being told but being 28 I wasn't. I knew of the interviews and I knew what happened to Nixon but all the behind the scenes stuff really grabbed me as did the actual interviews. I'm sure those who are familiar with the story will also be hooked into the movie just going by the reactions of some of the older folks walking out of the theater with me. The movie features some of the best acting in recent years but the performances by Langella is one of the ages. Whenever a figure like Nixon is shown you can't help but thing back to the actual person and I did that here but it only lasted a few seconds because after that I couldn't help but think I was actually seeing Nixon and not a performance. Langella takes ahold of Nixon's speech patterns, facial gestures and everything else so perfectly that you can't help but think you seeing the actual man. I'm not sure if it was Langella's plan or perhaps the film's plan but I started to feel a lot of sympathy for Nixon as the film moved along. Perhaps if I lived when this stuff took place I'd feel differently but the loneliness of Nixon's admissions and what he'd have to live with for the rest of his life was rather sad. His best moment, and perhaps the film's best moment, is a phone call the night before the big and final interview. Sheen also does a wonderful job and perfectly allows himself to be vulnerable during the first three interviews when Nixon is walking over him. How Sheen transforms in that fourth interview was great fun to watch. Kevin Bacon turns in some of his best work in years as does Oliver Platt and Rebecca Hall. Patty McCormack doesn't have too many scenes as Pat Nixon but she's terrific when she's on. Howard does a wonderful job at building up the suspense of the situation as we grow closer to the fourth and final interview with so much riding on the answers that Nixon will give. The interviews are directed in a wonderful fashion to where the viewer will be holding his breathe waiting for the answers to come. The intense performances, strong direction and smart screenplay makes for one of the better political dramas in many years. A real triumph of a film but Langella is the true masterpiece with his performance.