Frost/Nixon image from IMDB - click to follow
I enjoyed it and it’s a good piece of work. But… I felt that perhaps it exposed too much of itself. Which is, I think, I failure in a lot of Ron Howard’s work. There are two instances of this which really stand out in my mind.
Firstly the realisation of the power of the close-up in television and how it reveals so much of the person. The camera itself was telling that story all by itself. The character of James Reston, Jr., a college professor drafted in as a researcher by Frost, also serves as a cypher for the audience to analysis the growing influence of telelvision… but it didn’t need to be highlighted time and again in awkward choppy dialogue.
Secondly, the metaphor of a boxing match being used in the interview. This was brilliantly told, again by the camera. I felt the rise and fall of energy and the rapidity of blows being told as the two combantants leaned in close to each other, question – question – question; Frost leans backing reeling – pause – and Nixon delivers a slow powerful blow. The lights flick; the bell dings. Their coaches flock in to mop their brows and whisper rushed strategy in their ears. A wonderful idea; brilliantly realised. Brought low by it being spelled out to the audience.
In doing so some of the pleasure of the experience of going to the cinema, or for that matter reading any work of art, is lost to the audience. There is little discussion afterward. You do not appreciate it more on rewatching. Every nuance and subtlety has been laid bare and spelt out and that’s a shame.
Having said all of that; I always greatly enjoy Ron Howard’s work. He’s a good solid director who, while I’m rarely left stunned by a new form of cinema, produces good stories every time.
