The Ides of March
Directed By:
George Clooney
Written By:
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willmon, based on the play “Farragut
North” by Willmon
Starring: Ryan
Gosling, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Evan Rachel
Wood, Marissa Tomei, Jeffery Wright, Max Minghella, and Jennifer Ehle.
Director of Photography: Phedon Papmichael, Editor: Stephen
Mirrione, Production Designer: Sharon Seymour, Original Music: Alexandre
Desplat
Rated: R for the
things politicians say off camera
You can
tell a lot about the different tone being set by The Ides of March from the play that inspired it, Farragut North, by just examining the
titles. The original play, a sparse Mametesque back room politics piece, has a
title that refers to the subway stop in Washington DC where all the big
lobbyist and consulting firms have their offices on K Street, which is where
politicians go to die when they never make it to Capital Hill. But in George
Clooney’s take on the material, we instead have a more metaphorical title, one
that dates back multiple millennia in politics. We essentially have a fable.
And it is
this sort of morality tale that Mr. Clooney, not only playing an Obama-esque
politician (one that remained off stage in the play) but also writing and
directing, wishes to tell. Mr. Clooney may be one of the biggest actors still
today, but his craft as a director of cinema has become more refined with each
film. He seems to dig into these old genres and stories that cold have easily
been made in eras previous, doing little to update them, but make the movies he
wants to see. Thus, The Ides of March
is an often gorgeously crafted examination of the dirty little schemes that
hide under the skin of every politician.
