My thoughts about movies and TV shows I've been watching

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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Only weakness in this film is its ridiculous title

So often an HBO/Showtime movie nabs a major star for the lead role (often sharing exec producer credit) and the star wins an Emmy for a routine performance, but because the TV industry is honored to have a Paul Newman, e.g., step into its milieu. Al Pacino's going to be the exception - his performance in the HBO "You Don't Know Jack," as Dr. Jack Kevorkian, is amazing, transformative. I know that sometimes it's easier to portray a character in a biopic than to create an entirely fictive character from the whole cloth, but Kevorkian - well, it's not like Dennis Quaid playing Clinton (The Special Relationship), when we're constantly comparing him with the real guy. Most of us don't know anything about what Kevorkian was like - so we're just judging Pacino on his tremendous evocation of a character, obsessed, self-righteous, brave, eccentric, ascetic, principled, pig-headed, emotional, and caustic. It's a really smart movie, the best of this waning genre to come along in a few years, I think. Really makes you think about the issue and totally draws you in with strong character portrayal, smart writing, good supporting cast - though a bit long, took up my whole evening at 2+ hours. Pacino's argument with his/Kevorkian's sister in the diner is a tremendous scene, and the many interviews with the dying patients are all very powerful - wonder if they used some real documentary footage, there or with the TV appearances or the court appearances? This is a great use of cable medium, as the material deserves a feature-length treatment but it's obvious no studio would ever take on this subject for a commercial film, probably correctly - the topic would never draw a crowd to the Showcase. Only weakness of the film is its ridiculous and inapt title.

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