Frost / Nixon

This is an unmatched match. Protagonist and antagonist come into a straining psychological battle to grab the spotlight and come out on top.  Now I understand why sport events are so highly paid. In a battle of cunning wit and power, Frost and Nixon try to pick themselves up from the boxing ring's canvas, Who will prevail?

This movie is one true masterpiece in its genre. It's historical, it's very relevant, it resembles a bit of a documentary, giving it a credible status. But beyond that, it's a deconstruction of the characters' personalities, that shows how power can corrupt us to the betrayal of our basic need of connection to others and also how ego can make us fly high beyond our reach and make us strive for grandeur.

As both Frost and Nixon struggle with their own demons, they both have good counter-balancing acts that help them stay together and focused on their ultimate goal.  I envisioned this movie as being structured as a boxing match, and noticing how sometimes, somebody has the upper hand before coming into the round, and how that can eventually translate into an advantage. 

Frank Langella's portrayal of Nixon is, as far as I'm concerned, very accurate. Up front I was a bit skeptical as to how his interpretation would fare against Anthony Hopkin's in Oliver Stone's Nixon (Buy it). In the end I felt like I was watching Nixon himself, but even more so, it was a portrayal that brought a multidimensional character to life showing even the slightest hints of emotional conflict, pride or just sheer manipulation. 

You might particularly like this movie if you were in the Vietnam War, if you're a Democrat, if you feel like you're down but not out, even perhaps if you'd still like some insight into seemingly absurd things as the war in Iraq, and so on, and so on. I am not saying though, that this is a liberal vision of things (though I guess it could be) but I feel it is a fair picture of the way things actually went down, and in a sense, it can even bring you to empathizing with Nixon.

As far as the Oscar race is going, this one ranks amongst the top. As Oscar worthy Langella's interpretation pulls the weight of the movie, I have to give it a very fair chance. I will go all out on this one and definitely rate it a buy it, maybe even steal it... though you know better than to expect too much from a movie, particularly one in such somber tone about trying to extricate someone's secret from deep within its confines. It might be that I was pleasantly surprised as I did not expect this film to be quite so introspective and revealing.

In short, don't miss this one, I think it is one of the best possible ways to spend two hours.