Film Pairing — Year Of The Con

Seems as if 2016 is the “Year of the Con,” with the election and all these candidates for public office pretending to be honest and competent, if not pious and brilliant. Let me recommend two films that pick up on the theme though in slightly different ways.  The first is light jazz. The second is visceral.  The first will make you smile.  The second will make you wince. Both are blessed with extreme talent. Both garnered film awards and considerable critical acclaim.  Both are based on true stories. The odd observation here is that the actors are pretending to be someone pretending to be someone they are not. Only actors and politicians are allowed to do that.

 Catch Me If You Can — This is the moment, I think, we catch Leonardo DiCaprio make his transition from vulnerable child star to adult without missing a step as a highly talented actor.  Here he portrays Frank Abagnale, upon whose book and life, the film is based. Young Frank grows up admiring his father, a man who despite his talent as a loving parent couldn’t quite make it as a provider despite or because of his con artist ways.  Frank, who occasionally participated in his father’s antics and wanting to impress his dad, took con artistry to a new level of fraud. With fake identities, he scammed millions eventually attracting a bland but determined pursuer, played exquisitely by Tom Hanks. Rounding out the supersized cast are Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, James Brolin and Amy Adams.  The film, released in 2002, was directed by Steven Spielberg.

American Hustle — This is a considerably more down-to-earth film. While Catch Me If You Can has some serious undertones, it is a funny film. In American Hustle, the humor is there, certainly, but it is much, much darker.  Two con artists agree to scam an Arab sheik for a casino development in Atlantic City. An ambitious FBI agent catches on, and will throw them both in jail unless they help him bring down some dishonest politicians who would be caught with their hands in the till thereby helping the FBI agent make his bones at the Agency. If only humans didn’t have human failings. If only good was good and bad was bad and never the twain should met. Damn those gray areas. Damn that we should fall in love with stupid people who think they’re helping us but screw up our lives. Can’t I do a little wrong if the result is a greater good? Lots of questions. But answers?  Who is responsible for the answers?  Not the filmmakers. Based on the famous ABSCAM scandals of the ‘80s and directed by David O. Russell, the film was released in 2013. The gritty film is populated by incredibly fine actors giving fine performances at every level.  Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence and Louis CK are featured. Robert De Niro makes a brief but powerful appearance.

Something to quench your thirst while you watch a couple of hours of disingenuous behavior? Champagne for the first. Light and bubbly, but with an ultimately calming effect.  For the second, you’ll have to get serious. Bourbon with no more than two ice cubes.  Or do what I do these days — some ice, tonic water, and a twist of lime or lemon. No alcohol.  People will think gin and tonic and you’ve pulled of a little scam of your own.

Film Pairings — Primers: Something to Watch Before The Primaries

Gore Vidal

This is a political posting. I’ve committed the blog to primarily talk about crime books and crime films. I see no real distinction between crime and the politics practiced today, perhaps the way they have been practiced all along.  The Citizens United Decision legalized the bribery that has been going on since the Union was founded.  Our presidential nominees lie to us constantly.  This year we have one probable nominee who boasts of buying politicians and promises he will do whatever is necessary to achieve his goals. He’s at least telling us he will screw us over. Another suggests he would replace the Constitution with The Bible.  Still another receives tons of money from Wall Street while promising she will come down hard on those evil bankers.  When will we learn? Here are a couple of reminders as we approach the last days of the primaries.

 The United States of Amnesia — Ostensibly a film biography of writer Gore Vidal, we are exposed to an insider’s insights into the political machine.  We are spared details of his emotional entanglements largely because he spared himself.  Instead we have informed and passionate political thought on our country from someone deeply disappointed in it.  He was an idealist scorned.  Scrapbook photographs, television footage and interviews wrap up a life of a writer whose best works were essays, or at least commentary, on how well the U.S. does when judged by its stated most cherished values.  We don’t do well.  The oil wars.  The rich on welfare while the poor go bankrupt paying for medical emergency. The fiction of Camelot. Bush-Cheney and the stolen presidency.

The film was directed by Nicholas D. Wrathall and released in 2013.In addition to Vidal, Christopher Hitchens, Tim Robbins, Mikhail Gorbachev, Sting, David Mamet, William F. Buckley and Norman Mailer, and Dick Cavett are also in the documentary

Christian Bale

The Big Short — We know the story, sort of. And it’s the “sort of” that is the problem.  It’s banking, accounting. The director of the movie let’s you know up front, your eyes might glaze over as the story unfolds.  The truth is this complicated sub-prime problem that nearly destroyed the U.S. and world economies is damned hard to follow, so hard in fact that the fraud perpetrators not only walked free, they received bonuses as the victims families were thrown out of their homes. No one went to jail.  The Big Short admirably tells a complex tale exposing greed until, at last, the sole principled player takes the payoff.

Last year’s critical success was directed by Adam McKay based on the book by Michael Lewis. Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt flesh out a solid cast.

Both of these films are not mainstream in their approaches to the subjects. However, they do ask us to evaluate our participation in the established system. You be the judge on the level of corruption and how they might affect your vote in the primaries and in November.

To provide libations for the evening, it seems we might rely on the good old USA.  Maybe we should find a beer from a microbrewery not owned by a major corporation or a little carton of Bernie and Jerry’s ice cream.  Sorry, make that Ben and Jerry’s. Cherry Garcia Fro Yo is my addiction.