I feel like I need to see this again before I can say anything of interest about it, so for now I'll just note that it is formally audacious in a way I am not used to for New York indie films and that it concerns itself with questions of responsibility and obligation in making art, particularly as it borrows from someone else's life.
See it.
I'm seeing a good deal of criticism suggesting that this film is pro-cop, siding with Ron over Patrice. I'm not convinced that's entirely true.
Certainly, we see biracial police partners work together to thwart a KKK attack. Without the police, the attack would have been successful. Adam Driver's "we're a family" statement defending the racist cop who assaulted Patrice and murdered a Black child some years prior is even rebuked by police cooperation in a sting to get that cop…
Ideas about this film I am willing to entertain:
1. We are supposed to think of Michael Stone as an awful human being.
2. Everyone is poorly written on purpose, that's the point. Michael can't see anyone other than as a sketch of a human being that exists in relationship to him.
Arguments about this film I am not willing to entertain:
1. This film has any insight or anything of significance to say about Michael, the male psyche, masculinity…
There is a stupendous Kuleshov Effect moment in this film: It occurs some half hour or so after Brad Pitt tells his middle son (I believe) that "not to end up like I did, I dreamed of being a great musician." Pitt is playing the piano, and during a rest, just as his fingers are descending, hears the plucking of a guitar and turns his head to look. There is a cut to a shot of the same son (once…
