Trumbo (2015)

Director: Jay Roach*

Cast: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K.

Have I Seen it Before: Oddly enough, never. You’d think it would be right up my alley, but I just missed it. I’d say the way I eventually saw it was an odd way to finally take it in, as the climax of the Santa Fe International Film Festival nine years after the film was released. Bryan Cranston himself seemed to be a little confused by the choice, and he was there receiving a lifetime achievement award. I mean, sure Cranston’s connections to New Mexico are unassailable, and Roach hails from the Land of Enchantment, but can a pointedly political film from shortly after the golden escalator mean much in the here and now?

Did I Like It: There’s plenty in the film that is catering directly to me. Hollywood lore. Typewriter porn. Political contrariness. Cranston swinging for the fences without an ounce of ego in tow. These are the kind of things I like to see in movies.

Glossy and inherently abbreviated in the fine tradition of award-hunting biopics, I’d actually venture to say that as the film played at the Lensic concert hall**, the film means more to 2024 than it probably did to 2015. In 2015, we had what we thought was unrelenting political polarization, but we didn’t know how good we had it. One can’t help but watch Trumbo now and dwell on the possible sacrifices we may just have to make in the years to come.

*Remember when that guy had a whole career of doing whatever Mike Myers told him to? Kids, ask your parents.

**A concert hall is always, always a weird venue in which to see a film. Although, I think most large scale venues should probably be re-committed to movie screenings. Who really wants to see live music? Not I.

The Queen (2006)

Director: Stephen Frears

Cast: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Helen McCrory

Have I Seen it Before: Oh, yes. And yet, why revisit it now? I’ve slipped hard into a period of Anglophilia recently, and as long as Netflix stays stingy with seasons of The Crown, I have to find my fix elsewhere. Thankfully, there are any number of movies that can fill the gaps between seasons. Spencer (2021) filled in nicely between seasons 4 and 5. This one—also written by Crown primary writer Peter Morgan, picks up almost perfectly from the end of the recently released season 5. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before I feel the need to take in The King’s Speech (2010) again as some kind of prequel to the whole affair.

Did I Like It:  There’s a delightful, understated quality to this, especially when compared with its episodic spiritual successor. TV imbues the House of Windsor with a bombast that necessitates a Hans Zimmer score, here moments—even, oddly, the moments leading up to Diana’s death—are given a quaint, pointedly British, almost comedic, feel of an independent movie. Mirren and the rest of the cast never so much as flirt with a natural inclination toward impersonation or self-parody. The juxtaposition of real footage with the fictionalized narrative also more easily leads me to suspend my disbelief. Everything about the film which could be controlled is executed at the highest level.

But, as with any historical drama, there’s a few limitations that lead the film not to age as well as one might hope. Moments of the infamous Panorama interview don’t ring true, because I have a devil of a time believing that the Queen (Mirren) ever watched the interview, and the fact that the interview was used at all (given what we know now about how the interview was originally obtained) feels a little gross. Additionally, the ominous dwelling on the fact that Blair’s (Sheen) popularity may not last forever seems a little beside the point, especially in an era where the idea that Blair was ever popular seems a little ridiculous, and the shelf life of a current Prime Ministers are negatively compared to produce.