![]() ![]() embassy and the way that Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador to Iran at the time, hid the six American embassy workers for two months before arranging – with key help from then Prime Minister Joe Clark and Secretary of State for External Affairs Flora MacDonald – for their return home. Only then does the film unfold the full story of the student takeover of the U.S. Based on the book of the same name by the historian Robert Wright, the film takes its time to draw a nuanced portrait of the domestic political scene in Iran: It notes the Shah of Iran's brutal reign, his escape into exile and the return to Iran of the Ayatollah Khomeini, and the legitimacy of Iranians' concerns in late 1979 that the CIA might be positioning the Shah for a return to power. Still, Argo gave new life to a cloak-and-dagger episode that was until then known as the Canadian Caper, ironically helping to pave the way for the production of Our Man in Tehran, a comprehensive documentary that aims to set the record straight about the hostage crisis.īy one measure, Tehran, co-directed by Larry Weinstein ( Inside Hana's Suitcase) and Drew Taylor, is about as un-Hollywood a film as you could get. "And then once those 4 1/2 minutes of the intro were over – then it turns into a work of fiction!" This dialogue-heavy movie can be fun, but it isn’t the psychological thrill ride it aims to be.Even though Daugherty's character ended up with only about eight seconds of screen time in Argo, he was impressed that "they took all that care to get correct. HOSTAGE is a beautiful looking film, with the perfect blend of cinematography, set design, and lighting, but the writing for these characters was so off-putting that I didn’t really care who won this rat race to the bottom. She is both a victim and an antagonist and, as I watched, I didn’t know if I should help her or run from her. Her torment of the burglar is difficult to watch but captivating, and at times, you might feel a bit sorry for her. She rides the line of being completely psychotic while also seeming like your friendly suburban housewife. Tina Trineer, in particular, has some wonderful scenes. If you can stick out those moments of cringe, there is actually some good acting to be seen here. This writing doesn’t only feel cheap but also can be potentially triggering or off-putting, turning off a potential viewer completely. Ashley, herself, persistently accuses the burglar of trying to rape her. As we meet Ashley’s mother (Tina Trineer) she follows up with the N-word too, so we know she isn’t a good person. Immediately you’d want to side with the family whose home has been broken into, but the father who seems decent enough blurts out the N-word several times in the early goings of the movie. The biggest flaw of HOSTAGE is that it takes cheap routes to make certain characters eviler than others. From here on out it becomes a mostly dialogue-led movie filled with lies, manipulation, and unfortunately lots of upsetting language, and not in the sense of 4-letter words. They tie the burglar to a chair and hold him hostage, hence the name. Unfortunately for him, Ashley (Nicole Henderson) and her father (Daryl Marks) are home. A man ( Mike Cannz) breaks into a home not knowing if anyone is home. Sometimes, that quest comes at the detriment of the story itself.Īfter briefly showing a glimpse at what is to come, HOSTAGE begins its story with a burglary. I’ve seen movies similar to this, where the villain ends up being some sort of anti-hero, but this movie is in a consistent pursuit of finding out who is more evil. Who can be the most evil? Sometimes I think that’s what Eddie Augustin’s full-length feature debut film HOSTAGE is asking.
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