Whereas as much as JFK is a film about political and governmental mistrust and conspiracy as it is ultimately for me a film of lost hope, Stone made within four years of JFK a film with as much vitriol, mistrust and in the end tragedy as a film of this nature ever could have. That film was Nixon, a film even more divisive than JFK in so many ways. 

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Material wise, but most critically and commercially speaking, it’s not that this was a complete box office bomb or a full critical slam, but it certainly did not have the acclaim nor has had the long-lasting appeal that Stone’s previous presidential effort had. However, upon watching it now for this article, I can’t help but feel that this film succeeds in so many of the ways that Stone’s best films do, whilst also taking to a whole new level the manic, almost throw everything at the wall creatively approach that often works tremendously well and completely brainlessly sometimes within the same scene. The constant intercutting and splicing of footage, the constant usage of real life footage overlaid with original footage, the fades, the changes in film stock, the changes in colour – again, all sometimes multiple times within one cabinet sequence. Now I am of the opinion that for this film as these constant shifts begin to multiply in their nature and the overall temperature of the film on a basic level grows more and more loose and manic, that we really begin to feel an operatic sensibility and a pained tragedy presentation of the tale of Richard Nixon. The points and correlations these edits often make are not the most subtle of course, there are more than a few shots of Christ on a cross as Nixon or a member of his party make a chief sacrificial decision, however that all kind of leads to the film’s very specific and very watchable and rewatchable tone. Stone leans into the almost parodical level of montage that inhabited his previous films to such a degree that it eventually begins to feel intentional, even though deep in the core of even the strongest of Stone supporters understands it could never be wholly intentional. The film of course is bolstered in these creative decisions by multiple factors, the astounding cinematography across multiple forms of Robert Richardson and the somehow surehanded no matter how manic editing of Brian Berdan and Hank Corwin, with once more a tremendously operatic score by John Williams (as was the case with JFK, even re-using certain elements when we go through the Kennedy years in this film).  On every surface level, JFK should be just as unwieldy and melodramatic at times as this film is, yet there is a sublime tautness that underpins that film that is forgone here for what can only be describe as a Shakespearean tragedy approach – the film even opens with a bible quote about the sacrifices of man. Again, it’s so on the nose, but so wickedly entertaining and compelling.

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The film opens prior to its bible quote with the same sort of throat clearing transcript epigraph that this film as much hypothesised as it is based upon fact, yet this film has less interest in making bold claims and is instead a lot more clearly a single character study of a man and the tragedy of this frequently awful human being. It’s not that we empathise with Nixon, nor do I feel Stone does overtly, however one can’t help but feel incredible pain for the complexities of the man as he is indeed driven almost to madness by his own hubris. Stone does tell significant stretches of Nixon’s life but refuses to go cradle to grave, or any other standard biopic format, instead fuelled by the shifting forms and editing, he manages to bring the childhood of Nixon at a later date and drop us into times and locations at the start of the film with very little information, bar a title card and our own historical knowledge of the time (which if it is limited, this is not exactly the sort of first foray you wish to have, with Stone never pandering to this audience). The film boasts a truly incredibly stacked ensemble with names and talent in more or less every single role, filling out this surprisingly thrilling and sharp 3hr and 12min run time. This run time ends with an added epilogue narrated by Stone with footage from Nixon’s funeral which occurred around the filming and editing of the film – who knows what the film would look like if this death happened during more initial processes, I doubt it would effect Stone in anyway. The titular Nixon of the film is played by Anthony Hopkins in an Oscar nominated role that frankly takes a little getting used to. The voice is there, the mannerisms are there and then and again the resemblance is too – but for the most part a viewer can get stuck on the initial fact that very little is done at all to make Hopkins look like Nixon, nor as the film goes on, make attempts to really age him in any significant way. No of course the film doesn’t go past the resignation, so the makeup work is limited, but it’s just not the transformation that these films usually feature. But… it may be one of Hopkin’s best performances, beyond the simple fact that this is isn’t really a perfect impression of the man. Hopkins is so stunningly versatile in this film in all manners of his emotion that it really does floor a viewer. Every factor to the interior and exterior of Hopkins is beyond stellar. His subtlety in pain, confusion, anger and eventually great vulnerability, loss, grief and sadness, all fuelled by a clear and integral to Stone confusion and lack of grasp on the world that surrounds him. Everybody that surrounds him never really have standout moments as the case was with many of Stone’s other ensemble works, however this cast works so incredibly well and realistically as those faces that come in and out and surround Nixon during the period the film takes place in. The entire ensemble is genuinely sensational and so brilliant at delivering this verbose, muscular, at times darkly funny and overall very complex expositional dialogue. Stone does give us here a healthy dose of conspiratorial fare and the film can’t help but feel with its film-making, setting and themes like a companion piece to Stone’s undoubtedly greater political work JFK, however I feel Nixon may be just as grand and just as compelling in so many ways as that similarly presidentially eponymous film.

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Now of course JFK will remain Stone’s sole focus in regards to presidents on film in the social cannon. Releasing a further series of documentaries surrounding the assassination entitled Through The Looking Glass. Now for me there is only question when it comes to that film; is it a provoking piece of documentary filmmaking asking as many questions as a piece of film this nature can to fuel an intrigued audience to ponder matters regarding the fumbling of the warren report and the confusions and plain deceits surrounding the autopsy, or did Stone once again go into this feature believing that he could finally figure it all out? Stone opens and closes the documentary once again affirming an opinion still controversial in some arenas to this day, that Kennedy really was one our great leaders and without his death he would have achieved strides regarding civil rights, Vietnam and other matters with a speed and efficiency that would have marked him singularly to this day one of our greatest American presidents. These bookends do fuel a fury of injustice that somewhat manipulatively makes you l no for answers and hence cling to any information that we are given over the next two hours. Now for me this serves the exact purpose as JFK but somewhat more efficiently in its goal, it asks an abundance of questions, offers significant evidence and challenges absolutely everything, this time however not thwarted by a narrative need in a feature film to offer some form of convulsion to bring it all to a sense of closure. Perhaps fan is a wrong word, but I am deeply invested and constantly intrigued consumer of anything Kennedy or Kennedy assassination related, even from a very young child, so the film does entice me to no end, however it so very easily could just be passed off as the desperate reaching of a filmmaker attempting once more to defend his previous epic masterpiece, however maybe this is just a conspiracy loving loon talking but Stone does through interviews, montage and photo and video at least prove to some level that there’s an awful lot of funny business that went on around it all. But the argument a documentary makes isn’t what makes a good documentary for me it’s how skilful and without bias it presents its subject matter, and Stone here does effectively highlight the multiple levels of high incompetence that surrounded the autopsy and warren report. Stone also employs once more the impeccable voice of Donald Sutherland to deliver these facts and notions and so we are once again sucked in by the power of X. However perhaps the films biggest surprise that nobody expected, none the least of which this humble reviewer, was halfway through the narration and voiceover being taken of the silver tongue tones of Whooping Goldberg for no apparent reason. On the other hand of course Nixon offers us no such ‘joy’ or entertainment, simply a divine tragedy almost.

Stone, I guess, is a love him or hate him kind of director. For as much as I do indeed love him, I can still formulate in my head every single argument that another viewer could have against him. Perhaps that is a little bit of the perverse joy of Stone as a film-maker. The fact that what we are watching is often salacious, at times even dangerously simplistic, and at its worst factually incorrect without a hint of knowing. But in that simple way that has made his films work for years and years, they are so undoubtedly entertaining, in oh so many ways.

-        - Thomas Carruthers