Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Veronica Osorio, Heather Goldenhersh, Alison Pill, Max Baker, Fisher Stevens, Clancey Brown, John Bluthal, Aramazd Stepanian, Allan Havey, Robert Pike Daniel, Robert Picardo, Christopher Lambert, Robert Trebor, Basil Hoffman, Wayne Knight.
The film business is built on dreams and fairytales, it is the flight of fancy factory for illusion and aspirations and those to whom drama is not just a situation in which to fight their way out of or revel in. Film, especially that of Hollywood and the pinnacle of American dreams past and present, is the ultimate accolade in not being true to yourself and having a presented lie forced upon the screen. It is no wonder that appearing in a film is arguably still the biggest rush that there is to have.
It is a concept that sits well within the heart of The Coen Brother’s latest film Hail, Caesar!, a concept that delivers perhaps more than it intends as it delves between the sheets of what makes a studio work, the deals that are too be made, the horse trading that goes unnoticed in keeping egos occupied and secrets under wraps; Hail, Caesar! offers the film goer an experience that for some might be uncomfortable as they recognise certain aspects of their own behaviour or possibly could just go over the minds of some but it cannot be faulted for the terrific nods to studio machinations of the 1950s and the effects it had on cinema and those who support it.
The wonderful act of subversion, of placing ideas into a script and cinematic releases which carry huge weight and which owes a debt to films such as the magnificent The Player, the audience is shown a day in the life of Eddie Mannix, portrayed with great deference by Josh Brolin, and the egos he has to stroke and covet as several stars and gossip columnists fight for their two cents to be the centre of attention.
It is always heartening when you find a film in which its creative crew are willing to have themselves sent up, who aren’t afraid of the life they lead pulled under the spotlight and in George Clooney’s Baird Whitlock’s idealism, the excellent Ralph Fiennes as Laurence Laurentz, the superb Tilda Swinton playing both Thora and Thessaly Thacker and a rather lively Channing Tatum as song and dance man Burt Gurney, Hail, Caesar! hits the spot without really trying too hard and if there is just a side issue to that it belongs in the camp of what could have been if they had pulled out all the stops.
A film which some will love and some will wonder what truly is going on but for those who get Hollywood’s history, the joy of seeing it parodied with such delightful subversion will stick with them with bundles of glee.
Ian D. Hall