The Boys In The Boat Review: George Clooney Directs A Handsome But Riskfree Sports Drama
We can say that George Clooney has achieved what you would expect from a real Hollywood star. His films are well made, friendly and accessible without taking any risks. With the exception of the 2011 election drama “The Ides of March” and the 2020 environmental sci-fi film “The Midnight Sky,” he has mostly produced period pieces that often contain political ideas but do not lack the courage to put them into practice. . real (and not only) enthusiasm. with the openness that Clooney demonstrates in his activity).
His latest work also carries weight. "The Boys in the Boat" adapts Daniel James Brown's 2013 book about the University of Washington men's rowing team and their journey to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which took place in the shadow of the Nazi regime. Clooney and screenwriter Mark L. Smith tell their story with a gripping traditionalism, enhanced, if nothing else, by Alexandre Desplat's idealistic score.
At its core , The Boys in the Boat is about class politics, as a coach named Al (played by Joel Edgerton, a charming, low-browed actor) takes a chance on an inexperienced junior varsity team made up of working-class kids. variety. and against the wishes of the university administration. However, the film struggles to develop a concrete sense of what these athletes mean to us. Ostensibly a film about unity, the film ends with the boring line "We were never eight, we are alone," but it barely cares about anyone other than shallow protagonist Joe Rantz (Callum Turner, who at least brings some gravitas to the this role).
We know Joe for his hard luck and quiet determination, while Clooney dutifully recreates Depression-era Seattle. It was a young man wandering among the rusty car frames and tin-walled shacks, another face of the crowd that had gathered around the truck where the man had announced there was no more work for the day. We simply have to support him, but this concern does not extend to his teammates. We learn that there is a shy boy with a talent for the piano (Don Hume, played by Jack Mulhern) and an energetic helmsman, Bobby Mock (Luke Slattery), who called at the last minute to provide a dose of inspiration. The women—Joe's former childhood sweetheart, Joyce (Hadley Robinson) and Al's wife, Hazel (Courtney Henggeler)—seem to exist solely to reward the athletic genius with sexual availability.
In his film, Clooney pays close attention to period details: blisters on his hands, a megaphone strapped to the helmsman's face, and Joe's mentor, designer George Yeomans Pocock (Peter Guinness), ritually polishing his expensive boat. And it brings maximum thrills to a visually stagnant sport, cutting from all angles to deliver all the power these cars need to cut through the water with swanlike grace.
However, it is a very strange decision to ignore the fact that shortly before the competition Mock received a letter from his father saying that he was Jewish - after the team beats the Elite at home and arrives in Berlin, the film seems to lose everything. . Target. The narrator explains that it is "a boat full of oppressed people representing an oppressed nation" and there is a photograph of Adolf Hitler nearly fainting at the thought of American victory.
But then we see Joe with Jesse Owens (Juddah James), the black athlete who so movingly won his four gold medals amid the splendor of white supremacy not only in Berlin but in his home country of the United States - and Clooney is forced to do so . reluctantly realizing that a more interesting story lies behind the scenes.
Directed by George Clooney. Cast: Callum Turner, Joel Edgerton, Jack Mulhern, Sam Strike, Alec Newman, Peter Guinness, Luke Slattery, Hadley Robinson. 12A, 124 minutes
"The Boys in the Boat" will be released on January 12.
