Movie Breakdown: The Report (Noah)
Pre-Screening Stance:
I’m an Adam Driver superfan, an Adamista as they call us, sporting a t-shirt that reads (in extremely bold lettering) I Jive For The Drive(r). So, yeah, even a film where The Driveshaft himself abandons the oddball tinge of so many of his beloved roles for a suit, tie and dour expression looks puh-retty good to me. Also, Scott Z. Burns wrote a bunch of Soderbergh’s films and you don’t even want to see what my Soderbergh super-fan tee says.
Post-Screening Ramble:
On paper, Scott Z. Burns’ The Report looks fairly interesting. A thrilling account of real life Senate staffer Daniel Jones’ (Adam Driver) attempt to expose the barbaric interrogation tactics of the CIA overseas. Maybe you hear this description and you think about Scott Z. Burns and you imagine the style and panache of All The President’s Men mixed with the dangerous grit of The Insider and the quirky storytelling of The Informant. These expectations should be tempered. Any film trying to add suspense to a historical event must toe the line of a factual retelling and one pepped up with a touch of Hollywood flash. The Report leans heavily into realism and because the glut of the film follows a man in a room reading things on the internet or writing about those things on a computer, it becomes entrenched in its own methodical recreation. This is, quite frankly, a movie about a man reading stacks of paper (digital or otherwise) and then transferring his thoughts on those papers to other stacks of papers before printing out even bigger stacks of paper for other people to read. If Burns was able to flesh out his characters a bit, The Report might actually have a little swagger in its step. But Adam Driver’s Daniel Jones is a one note obsessive, whose life slowly narrows until all he’s focused on (and all the film is focused on) is his report. Which yeah, given the title of the film, this feels appropriate. But this film could be called “Watching A Guy Write A Report” and it would be equally as specific to the plot of the film. Annette Benning plays Senator Dianne Feinstein, and her likely-accurate portrayal, is purposefully wooden, a perceptive mind buried underneath the machinations of a politician, her role defined by the subtle movements of her eyes. And she’s one of the more exciting characters. Jon Hamm’s in there somewhere, Corey Stoll as well, but none of them make an impact, they’re just obstacles that Driver’s single-minded investigator can every once in a while bounce off as he grinds forward, pulling the audience one lurching step at a time. Even Adam Driver, usually so good at threading a trace of weirdness into whatever he does, can’t fight himself out of the plodding reconstructive nature of this film. His Daniel Jones is a very driven person without anything else, and again, this is probably true, but it isn’t much to watch. As if Scott Z. Burns was so intent on crafting a truthful representation of the historical aspects of this film, he forgot it was supposed to be entertaining.
One Last Thought:
At some point in my life, I’d like to make a wall covered in photos and lined pieces of paper turned sideways with questions scrawled across them (IS THIS A MAN WHO LOOKS LIKE A TORTURER?) with pieces of yarn connecting the suspects and fluorescent lights flickering and a cigarette clenched in my teeth. A murder wall is what I’d call it.
