Good Night and Good Luck film review

certificate_PG

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK

It is apparently not enough that George Clooney is ridiculously handsome and an engaging actor, he now proves himself to be a gifted director to boot. The promise he showed with his debut, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, has been more than fully realized with Good Night, And Good Luck, a brilliant and thoughtful drama highlighting one of the most shameful episodes in American political history.

Driven by a career defining performance by David Strathairn as the pioneering investigative TV reporter Edward R. Murrow, Good Luck is a very personal film for Clooney who co-wrote the script with Grant Heslov and whose own father Nick carved out a successful career as a TV anchor before running for congress last year. While the film focuses on Sen. Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witchhunt of the 1950's, Clooney cites current events as the inspiration, declaring "we use fear to attack civil liberties."

Good Luck exhibits a bold sense of style exemplified by Robert Elswit's elegant black and white cinematography which evokes the period perfectly along with the plumes of cigarette smoke which waft through every scene almost causing you to cough while swatting it away. At its heart, the film provides a glimpse of the courage and intelligence that were once fundamentals of network television and offers a prophetic warning of the consequences of what would ultimately happen when a medium that was once considered a powerful tool is instead turned into mindless toy.

As the host of the current affairs program See It Now, Murrow was christened "the face of television." In a courageous and risky move, supported by his loyal producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney), his CBS boss Bill Paley (Frank Langella) and a team of reporters, Murrow challenged the powerful Sen. McCarthy, who was head of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Using the case of a U.S. Air Force reservist who had been kicked out of the military for apparently being a "security risk" despite the lack of any tangible evidence, Murrow sets out to expose McCarthy's policy of fear.

To add to Good Luck's sense of authenticity, archive footage is seamlessly cut in with the drama. Watching Starthairn's Murrow smoking live on television is as shocking as watching such an articulate and commanding presenter being given the forum to effect very real change. It's almost as surprising as seeing a smart film with both substance and style.

Kevin Murphy