User Comments: Date: 8 November 1999
Summary: Michael Mann does it again!
I have been a huge Michael Mann fan for years, but I do have to admit that I
approached his latest film "The Insider" with just the teensiest bit of
trepidation...after all, Mann is the godfather of the thinking man's action
flick, and I've even heard it said that his action sequences are so integral
to his movie that they are practically another character in the film...with
which I completely agree. So I was wondering how a movie with no chase
sequence, no gunfights, basically no action whatsoever--well, how could that
possibly qualify as an authentic Michael Mann signature film?
Yes, the action, per se, is missing, but Mann still brings his signature
directorial style to life with lots of wide shots, intense close ups, and
indirect focus, all bathed in cool blue light and threaded together with an
inventive soundtrack (including a reprise of a former track that was used so
effectively in "HEAT"; sorry, I can't recall the title offhand).
And what the movie lacks in "action", Mann more than makes up for in
high-wire tension. He pulls us into the drama of an ordinary man's life by
portraying the myriad humiliations, both large and small, that assault
Wigand from the moment he is fired from his job as an R&D VP for a major
tobacco company. The detoriation of his life, from his finances to his
marriage to his belief in himself, is explored with the sort of atmospheric
detail that is Mann's trademark: the play of light or lack of it; the
familiar sights and sounds of everyday life, from the patterns of rain on a
windshield to the rush of wind through the trees; and camera work that
ranges from tight, out-of-focus shots to sweeping panoramas of razor-sharp
clarity...all of this creates an environment of realism that puts you into
the film. You can't just observe Wigand's struggle; you experience it with
him. My movie-watching partner observed as we left the theatre that he felt
exhausted from the tension, as if he'd just been through the corporate
wringer himself. I knew what he meant!
But atmosphere isn't all Mann delivers. Once again, this genius director
has placed an unexpected actor in the lead role of his film, with amazing
results. Before Daniel Day Lewis was "Nathaniel Poe" in "The Last of The
Mohicans", no one would have believed he could pull off a major hunk-o-rama
role...well, guess what? He ended up defining the hero of the
adventure/romance genre! In "The Insider", Mann has opted for the opposite
effect, casting young, potential hunk material Russell Crowe as an older,
slightly-pot-bellied father of two. Wigand doesn't look like anyone's hero,
and perhaps that's actually the message of the movie: an ordinary man--a
nobody, really--caught up in extraordinary circumstances. And Crowe
delivers...in a major way! Personally, I can't remember an acting
performance that mesmerized me to this extent...unless it was the last time
I watched Crowe, in "L.A. Confidential". He evokes his character in this
movie with the apparent ease of a magician doing card tricks: the illusion
is complete and appears to be effortless. Even with silver, receding hair
and twenty extra pounds which, we are shown, is not the result of costume
padding, but Crowe's own amplified flesh, he is imminently watchable...
almost hypnotically so.
There are, even as I post this, whispers and rumors about this movie being
an Oscar contender. Best director, best actor, best supporting actor.
Again, I can only nod my head in complete and total agreement. Russell
Crowe will blow you away, and Al Pacino gives his best performance in years.
This film is quiet, intense, and ultimately, extremely moving. I literally
burst into tears twice, the way you do when you've recieved bad news or seen
something dreadful, so complete was my empathy for the character of Jeffrey
Wigand . The anger, helplessness, and puzzled confusion at being punished
for telling the truth felt all too familiar to me.
In summary, I was not at all disappointed in Mann's direction of this film.
Even without the phenomenal action sequences he's known for, this film had
the same visceral effect on me that I experienced when I saw Manhunter, Last
of the Mohicans, and HEAT. I'm a born-again fan!
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