Mid.
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This was some mid, bruh.
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Damnit, I was really looking forward to digging into this content too because I’m a Watergate hag, so anything to do with Nixon, his associates, his transition, and/or his demise—I’m always interested off GP. Numero uno ☝🏾on the “piqued interest” list.
Super unrelated-related side note: I just re-watched “Cooley High” (1975), which is set in 1964 Chicago, and in the end, one of Preach and Cochise’s friends is mentioned as either attending and/or dying at the 1968 Democratic Convention protest, so…numero dos ✌🏾 on the “piqued interest” list.
Also, also, Fred Hampton was the Black Panther Party’s (BPP) Illinois chairman in Chicago while Bobby Seale, National BPP chairman, sat as the eighth person on trial. This film references Hampton’s assassination, and depicted how Judge Julius Hoffman had Seale physically gagged and chained to his chair in the courtroom in an effort to silence him as he continued to deny Seale his due process.
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Whew.
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I am fully appreciating that throughout this year’s film season, the art just continued to highlight the U.S. government’s institutions’ failures to uphold democratic ideals while appropriately depicting that the broken systems were propped up by contemptible, malignant beings: AG John Mitchell in this film, and J. Edgar Hoover in “The United States v. Billie Holliday” and “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
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The cast was my initial draw. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s introduction as Seale was a little 😕 🥴 in the beginning, but grew on me.
I enjoyed Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden. (And for the historical shawties, he was Jane Fonda’s ex-husband and Troy Garity’s father—this connection alone, given Fonda’s activist history related to the Vietnam War, is even crazier the more I think on it.)
I really like how John Carroll Lynch just seems to pop up every damn where—he knows how to bit role his way to success. And I’m here for it—he’s consistently good’t.
Also, shouts to Mark Rylance—he killed it.
Frank Langella, who plays Judge Hoffman, must really love a Nixon-era piece, given he’s played the disgraced president on stage in the 2007 Broadway production of “Frost/Nixon,” and subsequently reprised the role in the 2008 film of the same name.
Sasha Baren Cohen was fantastic as Abbie Hoffman. I’d really love to see someone produce an intimate indie film with Cohen exploring the Hoffman’s post-trial life.
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The cast, editing, and (maybe) the cinematography get my nods, but tonally, this film was hard to gauge. Like, I dug the diverse perspectives of the trialmen, and appreciated their unique profiles showcased during the intro, and how they all ascended to the Convention. But from then on until the end of the second act, ‘twas a wonky ride.
I think either the pace of the trial, or the shifts in the points of focus for each day of the trial, or juxtaposing flashbacks of the uprising with the trial proceedings, or leaning in on the antics of Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong) and Hoffman kinda stripped away the seriousness of the product, and left me with a blasé attitude about the uprising.
It wasn’t until [redacted] made an appearance during the final act that I really perked up in my chair like “no Sorkin didn’t just…”
While I enjoyed the final act more than the rest of the film, it honestly gave off the stench of the triumphant, “White Savior” trope. I wondered how much of Hayden/Hoffman closing remarks actually happened as presented in the film. Also, I would’ve loved if the remarks shown before the closing credits would’ve included information on what happened to all seven men on trial and Seale. But, ehh…small potatoes.
In conclusion shawties, eh… I enjoyed the film, but all it did was motivate me to find other filmmakers’ iterations of this event to compare. “The Trial of the Chicago 7” didn’t blow my skirt up, and that sucks because I usually adore Sorkin’s art.