I just got back from seeing Frost/Nixon. I would have seen it much sooner than now, but no cinema in the area carried it. Milk was the same situation. I figured it would happen with Milk, this being Southern Indiana and thoroughly homophobic, but Frost/Nixon isn't even a divisive issue ... well, not now. Some may claim it's another instance of "liberal Hollywood elitists tarnishing the character of a conservative icon," but only if they haven't seen the film.
Frost/Nixon, based on the stage play that's based on the actual interview (and lead-up to it), gives a documentary-style account of David Frost's hard-hitting interview with ex-President Richard Nixon, only three years after his resignation. It is documentary-style in that the actors who play certain real-life supporting characters give occasional fourth-wall-breaking interview clips to the camera inter-cut with the story proper. Oliver Platt, known (to me at least) from his work on Huff (as Huff's womanising, drug-addicted lawyer) and The West Wing (as the womanising, four-times-divorced head White House Counsel) plays one of the political advisors and research assistants to David Frost in the lead-up. He also does a hilarious Nixon parody, for the record. Sam Rockwell, whom I must say is one of the best actors to grace the screen, plays another researcher, hell-bent on getting Nixon to confess to any (or all) criminal wrongdoing.
But Frank Langella's portrayal of Richard Nixon is, dare I say it, moving. Langella does what I never thought possible by making Nixon a more sympathetic character than his real-life counterpart ever appeared to be. There is one scene when the interviewers take a break in the filming for Easter, and Frost stays in his hotel to worry about financing, most if not all of which is falling through. He receives an unexpected call from President Nixon, who has had a little too much to drink. Nixon pours his heart out to the man who is supposed to be dead-set on asking hard-hitting questions and finding out the truth from this criminal of an ex-POTUS. Langella's performance in this scene is brilliantly stirring and even makes me feel for the real Richard Nixon, something I have never said before in my life.
Michael Sheen's portrayal of Frost is perhaps overshadowed by Langella's Nixon, but as an American I know more about the former POTUS than I do a still-living, still-working television presenter and interviewer. I have never seen an interview of Frost's, although I was interested to know he interviewed all British Prime Ministers up to 2007 and all US Presidents up to 2008 (I suppose it's a little early to interview President Obama). His acting was quite good from an objective point of view, however; virtually the whole film Frost is trying to get funding for this project and failing most of the time. Sheen's face throughout has a look of someone up against it, but covering it up to present a brave face to the world, something I recognise quite well from everyday life.
The true star of the film, of course, was Clint Howard. Clint, better known as Ron's Brother, always plays a bit role and does it wonderfully. Several years ago he won an MTV Movie Lifetime Achievement Award, an award that has never been more deserved by anyone than Clint Howard. Seriously, Clint Howard has probably the best career in the world. He is guaranteed camera time on his brother's projects and has been in other works with significant (if significantly minor) roles. Frost/Nixon is yet another impressive entry on an already-impressive CV.
