The title refers to the day Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators who feared his role as a dictator would forever destroy their constitutional government. Some of these senators were close friends of his which makes their actions all the more shocking. In the political arena then and now, you’d think those running for office would have their friends and loyal advisors to instill their trust in. But as history shows, the quest of power can tear friendships apart completely and corrupt the seemingly incorruptible. In William Shakespeare’s play of “Julius Caesar,” a soothsayer warns him before he is stabbed to death:

“Beware the Ides of March.”

George Clooney’s latest directorial effort is based on the play “Farragut North” by Beau Willimon, and it looks at how dangerous a political campaign can be for all those involved. They may not get stabbed in the back literally, but there is a lot of that to go around figuratively speaking. It all makes for an intense political thriller that never lets up.

Ryan Gosling stars as Stephen Meyers, a Junior Campaign Manager for Governor Mike Norris (Clooney) who is seeking the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. As the movie opens, Norris is campaigning in Ohio where a win there will all but guarantee him the nomination. Meyers is a strong believer in Norris and what he stands for, but his belief in him and the world of politics is in for a rude awakening. After a secret meeting with the rival campaign manager Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), trust becomes a precious commodity that’s in very short supply. Meyers also stumbles on an even bigger situation which could destroy the campaign for good.

This is Clooney’s fourth movie as a director, and the abilities he shows behind the camera are never in doubt. “The Ides of March” doesn’t necessarily break any new ground in the political movie genre, but he does great work in generating tension throughout as characters suddenly finds themselves on a precipice which threatens to fall out beneath them with little warning. He also gets great performances from the entire cast as they face off with each other like they’re playing a game of chess. Everyone is holding their cards close to their chest, and only the eyes can give them away in showing where they are most vulnerable.

Gosling is having a heck of a year in 2011 with this, “Crazy Stupid Love,” and “Drive.” As with the latter, he brings a smoldering intensity to his performance as he takes Meyers from a political idealist to one who sells out his values when things get rough. With one look he can let us inside his thoughts without saying a single word.

Two of my most favorite performances in “The Ides of March” come from two of the best character actors ever: Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti. Playing campaign managers for their individual candidates, they brilliantly bring out the moral complexities of each person as their agendas become clear throughout the story. Both also make what could have been convoluted actions or maneuvers appear completely believable as they try to get the upper hand in a fragile political environment. They essentially represent the cynical side of politics where idealism vanished a long time ago and the path Meyers may be forced to go down if he wants to continue working in this realm.

The fabulous Evan Rachel Wood is great as always as Molly Stearns, a campaign intern whose confidence collapses when her secret is realized. Seeing her go from a sexy seducer to the campaign’s most vulnerable employee is handled by her like a pro, and she makes us see Molly as a person while others view her as a crippling concern needing to be quickly and quietly removed. The cruelty of politics comes to hit her character the hardest.

And then there’s the equally fabulous Marisa Tomei who portrays New York Times reporter Ida Horowicz. She enjoys a friendly banter with Gosling from the start which draws us in on a more personal level. It’s there where Tomei traps not just Gosling but the audience as well. She provides us with a friendly face that is later revealed to be a manipulative journalist who wields more power than you might expect one to have. I have yet to see Tomei give a bad performance in anything she does.

What I really like about the screenplay of “The Ides of March” is that it’s not about good guys and bad guys. It’s all about shades of gray and how the hope in politics can be easily and quickly worn down to a cinder of what it once was. Some of the actions in the movie almost feel like something out of the “Saw” as they almost seem illogical and impossible to put together, but it makes sense in regards to the world it takes place in. This would make a great double feature with Mike Nichols’ “Primary Colors” as both deal with the moral compromises made in getting your man elected. But while “Primary Colors” sees something of a light at the end of the tunnel, “The Ides of March” doesn’t let the viewer off as easy.

* * * ½ out of * * * *

Jason Reitman, director of “Juno” and “Up In The Air,” started the first night of his movie program at the New Beverly Cinema with a double feature of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Election.” “Election” was released in 1999 and was directed by Alexander Payne who would later go on to direct “About Schmidt” and “Sideways.” Reitman stated that he considers this film to be the unofficial sequel to “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” as it answers the question; what ever happened to Ferris after high school? Reflecting on what Edward R. Rooney, Dean of Students (played to manic perfection by Jeffrey Jones) said in the film that Bueller’s life would be in a ruinous state in 20 years from now, that wasn’t far from the truth. Here we see Matthew Broderick still stuck in high school, this time as Civics teacher Jim McAllister. There is no escaping the hell that is high school this time for this Broderick character, and he is confronted with a go-getter named Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon, pitch perfect by the way) who is running for Student Body President.

Reitman started off talking about “Election” and of how Volkswagen was willing to pay a lot of money for Broderick to drive a VW Bug, but that director Payne was adamantly against it. This was proof Reitman said that this director was one who stuck to his guns and never strayed from his vision of the movie.

Whereas “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” was John Hughes’ love letter to Chicago, “Election” was Alexander Payne’s love letter to Omaha. This city in Nebraska has been the setting for just about every movie Alexander Payne has made except for “Sideways.” Jason said that Payne has been a big influence on him as a director, and they have become friendly over the years. Payne told Jason that he loves to shoot in the Midwest of America because of “the wind.”

Before “Election” was started, Jason Reitman brought out a special guest to talk about the movie and the making of it: Chris Klein. Chris played the well meaning but hopelessly dim high school football star Paul Metzler. After “Election,” Chris went on to star in “American Pie,” and he later went against type in John McTiernan’s remake of “Rollerball.” That movie was never mentioned during the Q&A, and probably for a good reason.

“This may sound hokey, but this is what dreams are made of.”

That’s how Chris went about describing how he got cast in this film and ended up being plucked from obscurity. At the time, Chris was living in Omaha and going to high school when he was discovered. People in his hometown would never take him seriously when he said that his dream was to be a professional actor. You have to wonder what those same people must think of him today.

During pre-production for “Election,” Chris said that Payne was scouting out high schools and other locations in Omaha when his high school principal (who was essentially acting as his agent) brought Chris to the director’s attention. While Paul Metzler was a football star, Chris had become the star of the plays and musicals put on at his school. One day, his teacher was instructed to tell Chris to get some papers which he forgot to bring with him. As he was walking down the hallway, Alexander Payne passed by him as he headed in the opposite direction. The next day, Payne called Klein up and asked him to audition and do a cold reading for him. Chris said that he actually didn’t know what he was reading for, and that had he known he’s sure he would have blown the entire thing. All the same, he got cast in “Election,” and his career took off from there.

Chris said he had not seen any of Alexander Payne’s previous films, so the director gave him a copy of “Citizen Ruth” which he ended up watching with his mother. For those of you not familiar with this particular film, it starred Laura Dern as a glue-sniffing drug addict who ends up becoming pregnant, and she spends the movie deciding on whether or not to get an abortion. Keep in mind that Omaha, Nebraska is a very conservative area, so neither Chris nor his mother was adequately prepared for what they ended up seeing. His mother ended up saying:

“WHAT IS THIS MOVIE??!! IS THIS REALLY THE GUY YOU ARE ABOUT TO WORK WITH???!!”

With “Election,” it marked the first time that Chris had ever been on a film set, and he remarked that he never realized that they played music during a scene. That must have thrown him off at first. When he read the screenplay, he told Alexander that he didn’t know that it was supposed to be funny. Alexander responded by saying that this was exactly what he wanted. The direction he gave to Chris was that his character Paul Metzler was nervous and never comfortable in front of people. This ended working out perfectly.

For Jason Reitman, Chris’ experience making this film reminded him of various panels he has been on with actors from his own movies. Many said that they had no idea of what Jason was doing until the whole thing was over. Chris described what Jason pointed out as being very similar to his experience making “Election.” It never occurred to him fully what kind of film they had made until he went to the premiere and saw the movie with an audience. After that, he exclaimed:

“HEY! WE ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING FUNNY!”

Admittedly, having grown up in conservative Omaha for most of his life, Chris said there were several scenes in the movie that concerned him. But none concerned him more than the scene where Paul Metzler gets a blow job. Jason however pointed out that the blow job is a huge moment for his character in that it is the first one Paul has ever gotten. The expression on Paul’s face in that moment is so priceless. But this is the way Chris saw that whole scene:

“Believe me; I have gotten A LOT of blow jobs! The thing though is none of them were ever put up on the big screen before!”

Jason remarked that directing an actor (not an actress mind you) to do an orgasm in a film is “really hard.” This was a challenge that Reitman had faced when he was directing Michael Cera in “Juno” where he was very intimate with the title character. Reitman remarked that Michael is a wonderful guy and a great actor, but getting that expression on his face of the thing we want to experience multiple times throughout our lives proved impossible, so it ended up getting cut out of the movie.

All this talk about blow jobs from one movie to the next led Jason Reitman to remark:

“This has turned into an amazing Q&A!”

Once again, “Election” was Chris Klein’s first time on a movie set, so there were many lessons for him to learn quickly. Throughout it all, he spent just about every hour on location to where Director Payne told him:

“Don’t worry, you can go home. We’ll call you when we’re ready for you.”

One other thing that really altered his perception of moviemaking at the time was when the actress originally cast Paul’s sister, Tammy (Thora Birch), ended up being replaced. As Chris saw it, she was basically fired, and he became very fearful that he would be the next one to go. Alexander Payne may have been watching a young actor growing right before his eyes, but Chris described the whole process as him taking it all so seriously so that he wouldn’t get fired.

Chris Klein finished by saying that working on “Election” was really an amazing experience as well as a lucky one, and that watching professionals like Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon (both of whom he described as being “very generous” to him and others) made this one of the very best experiences he has ever had. To all this, Jason Reitman remarked:

“I’m so glad you two (Klein and Payne) ran into each other at your high school!”

Before the Q&A was concluded, Jason had said that over various films and movie festivals, he became friendly with Alexander Payne. Payne has been very complimentary on the work Reitman has done, and Jason said that this has meant so much to him. Now they text each other on a regular basis, so he had asked Payne if there was one shot in all of “Election” which best describes the whole movie for him. Jason read the entire text that he received from Payne to the audience:

“The entire movie rests on the one shot of the protagonist (Matthew Broderick’s Jim McAllister) washing his genitalia in the shower of that motel room.”

Reported by Ben Kenber

This movie came out on HBO several months ago, but I never got around to seeing it until now. How ironic, considering that we are now upon our country’s latest Presidential election and one of the most important ones at that. Still, the memories of hanging chads and confusing ballots permeate our consciousness 8 years after the heavily contested election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. We saw this played out on the networks with all their furious coverage, but now with “Recount,” we get a look at what went on in the campaign offices while this election fight went on to get what they each felt was fair and just.

How you view this movie might depend on what side of the political spectrum you see yourself on. I’m not sure how accurate this movie is to real events, but I imagine it is pretty close. Coming out of it, you may feel it values one candidate over the other. But in the end, “Recount” is not so much a movie about the fight to get candidates elected as it is about the fight for democracy. It is a fight for all the voters to be heard, and also a scary tale of how the fate of the Presidency can end up in the hands of a powerful few instead of America as a whole. Hopefully, this is something that we all collectively hope we never have to live through again.

“Recount” was directed by Jay Roach who is best known as the director of all the “Austin Powers” movies. Here, he directs a large cast of superlative actors who take the roles of many people we know well from the news, and gives us a strong case of why many still thank Al Gore was robbed of the Presidency (hence, it will probably alienate more conservative audiences). Both Gore and Bush are basically supporting players in this story, and we only see them from the backs of their heads (obviously portrayed by other actors) or in news footage of them during the campaign. The movie is more interested in what went on behind the scenes of the election, and of the different fights made to get to the truth of who won the Florida electoral votes.

Even though we all know how this ended up and who got elected, the movie is still riveting in the same way “Apollo 13” was. It is not so much interested in the general way things happened as it is the specifics of the issue. We see brilliantly shot examples of how chads in ballots could not be broken off as they were designed to be. The opening shot of the movie shows how easily confused some Florida residents are when they are trying to vote, and yet it is not altogether clear how to vote for Gore so that you don’t accidentally vote for Pat Buchannan. The moment where one of Gore’s campaign workers rushes up to him before he is about to make his concession speech on the night of that election is scary in that we all feel like we are running alongside him. This movie feels all the more stronger all these years later as we will finally be rid of Bush as President for once and for all. Even now, we have a strong emotional reaction to the thought of Gore conceding the election.

At the head of this star studded cast is Kevin Spacey who gives one of his best performances in quite some time as Ron Klain, Al Gore’s legal advisor on the campaign trail. The day before the election, it is presumed that Gore is going to win it, and Klain is offered a job in Gore’s new administration. Ron ends up turning it down, feeling that it is not the way he wants to spend the next 8 years of his life. But when it becomes clear that there are clear inconsistencies in the voting in certain Florida counties, Ron goes right into action to make sure that all the votes are recounted, as the margin of victory is only off by just over a thousand votes. Ron is aided by a large team of political strategists from Michael Whouley (Denis Leary) to Warren Christopher (John Hurt).

Spacey makes it clear from the start that Ron Klain is an idealist more than anything else about the way the political system works. What he does throughout the movie is not motivated by his desire to see Gore become President (he even admits in one scene that he is not even sure he likes Gore) as it is by the desire to see all the votes counted and to not have any of them thrown for different reasons like those rejected votes of people with similar names of convicted felons. Because the election was so close, we can see in Spacey’s eyes that this election is just much too important for certain votes to be cast aside.

We also get great performances from other actors like Ed Begley Jr. who plays David Boes who passionately fought for the recount to continue when testifying at the Supreme Court. Another great performance comes from the always reliable Tom Wilkinson (“Michael Clayton”) who plays James Baker who fights on behalf of George W. Bush to turn the election his way. Wilkinson plays Baker as being idealistic in his own way, and is almost as idealistic as Klain is for the democrats. Bruce McGill is also great here as Republican lobbyist Mac Stipanovich who is brought in to persuade Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris to stop the recount.

Speaking of Katherine Harris (who by the way wanted nothing to do with this film), she is played here in a brilliant performance by Laura Dern. With makeup to bring up harsh memories of Faye Dunaway from “Mommie Dearest,” Laura gives us a Katherine Harris who is not dumb, but who is oblivious to what is going on around her. She says she is following the law, but never really questions those around her as to what their true motives really are. Laura is one of the best actresses working today, and this movie is a good reminder of that. Her performance is frightening in how it shows

The other thing I wanted to note about “Recount” is that the actors do a great job of inhabiting their roles as opposed to impersonating people we have known for a long time in the political world. That is always the trap of playing characters we know from really life; many end up playing these people from the outside in instead of inside out. It takes a group of well trained actors to play these roles, and who are not mere impressionists or mimics. Mimicry is a cool art, but it doesn’t work in movies like this.

Director Jay Roach does a great job of literally putting you back in the year 2000, and he makes you're a witness to all the goings on to where even though you know how this race ended, you still hope and pray for a different outcome. Jay also shows how each Presidential candidate has to be grateful for all the dozens of people and hundreds of supporters who helped their candidate to where he (or eventually, she) is in the political landscape (and landmines) of America. Aside from “The West Wing,” we haven’t had too many movies that have looked at these people who work so hard for the politician they support, and this movie is a reminder of how those people need to be thanked for all that they do. They can’t stay behind the scenes forever. They need to be seen for who they are.

In the end, “Recount” is not so much a movie about how Gore got screwed out of an election he won the popular vote on. It’s not about if Gore lost the election. It is about how democracy was lost in that election, and of how many voices were rendered irrelevant for reasons that were not altogether justified. The final scene of the warehouse where all those uncounted votes is haunting, and it almost feels like an outtake of the scene from “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” where the Ark of the Covenant is being stored in a factory holding hundreds of boxes that all look alike. The real victim of that election was that all the voters were not heard, and that ended up leaving a shadow over George W. Bush’s Presidency that will never fully be erased.

It also serves as an important document of a moment of history that we can never forget. We need to remember what happened so that it never happens again. We have already seen history repeat itself, and now it’s time to learn from it so that it never happens again.

“Recount” shows how HBO continues to make some of the best and most important movies today. It’s one of the best movies I have seen in 2008.

**** out of ****