Stunning piece of kinescopic cinema.

Rating: 9/10 (11 October 2005)

More than anything else, I loved, loved, LOVED how director George Clooney shot this film. Not just in black-and-white, but in HIGH-KEY black-and-white- so that you can barely feel the hot studio lights in every shot. Hand-held cameras catching script meetings, echoing the newsreel cameras shooting the big location news stories. (A lot of the cinematography reminded me of the PBS documentary from a few years back on Rod Serling called SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL.) The whole presentation of the nightly live broadcast of SEE IT NOW- from director cues to film feeds to cue cards- is wonderful to watch. And, of course, the kinescopes and newsreels of the McCarthy hearings- amplified to grainy, scratchy proportions- are still chilling to watch. The movie is an interesting companion piece to say, BROADCAST NEWS- despite the fact that the films are almost 20 years apart and represent two different time lines of the same subject matter. And the entire business still yields a controlled, crisp, central performance- worthy of an Oscar nomination- from David Strathairn.