“Georgetown” (2021)
Elegant but empty directorial debut from Christoph Waltz
Elegant but empty directorial debut from Christoph Waltz
It’s been over a decade since Quentin Tarantino struck gold once more with his casting and introduction to the wider world of yet another actor he believed deserved such a vast audience: Christoph Waltz. The Austrian born actor was hardly an overnight success having over a hundred acting credits to his name prior to his stratospheric rise after starring in Tarantino’s bloodily brilliant tongue in cheek re-telling of World War II, Inglorious Basterds, in 2009. However, he was an overnight success with me. In fact, it was love at first sight as he infused his deliberately unlikeable and detestable character with a camp glee and sophistication to go with an unhinged, unstable psychopathy. Witness the opening chapter alone as first he disarms the French farmer and his gaggle of scared and wary daughters before slowly leading his prey into a tearful admission, a complete breakdown and the destroying of a man’s soul for simply doing the right thing for his friends and fellow human beings.
This short scene alone is bravura Tarantino and Christoph Waltz is the evil showman personified.
What this has to do with the film under discussion is of no concern to us at the present time, and we’ll get to my spoiler free appreciation of his directorial film here shortly. But since Inglorious Basterds in 2009 he’s added a further 18 acting credits to his already enormous list up to and including the current date, and post this presumably pandemic delayed release of the originally scheduled 2019 Catch Me If You Can style real life crime drama. He collaborated again with Quentin Tarantino in 2012 as a foil for it’s leading man Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained and his soft lilting voice, humanity and Paternal guidance won him a second successive Academy Award to sit alongside the Oscar he won 3 years previously as a despicably evil Nazi German SS Officer, again directed by Tarantino. He’s played a Bond villain (twice), teamed up with Wes Anderson in last year’s The French Dispatch and almost as pleasingly, he also starred in Muppets Most Wanted!
But the two roles that compliment his own here, as well as being under his own directorial guidance too remember, are in the Tim Burton directed Big Eyes in 2014 and the perhaps underrated Roman Polanski directed film Carnage from 2011. The parallels of deceit and living on your wits are starkly obvious with Tim Burton’s under appreciated real life art and forgery crime drama Big Eyes, but from what I remember of the Polanski film loosely aligns too: the swan like appearance of serenity whilst fiercely kicking beneath the waves. Or a boiling anger beneath the calmest of exteriors? All are present here and in another sublime performance that is reassuringly brilliantly Christoph Waltz. The film is also elegantly and beautifully directed at times by the Austrian in his directorial debut, but it left me a little cold despite its bizarre real life inspiration.
The Worst Marriage in Georgetown (Published 2012)
Dinners were served in the basement. Ambassadors, generals with many stars, senior White House officials and closely…www.nytimes.com
Based upon the article linked above, Christoph Waltz both directs and stars as a thorn between two roses and the cause of severe friction between his aged wife and her daughter. The capsule reviews for this film all follow a similar theme as alluded to above and that is both a perfect encapsulation for this bizarre film as well as being very, very far from the truth, and which perfectly suits the demeanour and schizophrenic nature portrayed so well by Waltz. It’s not a spoiler to suggest that Waltz’s character is a chancer, a story teller and a man who lives on his wits, but the far more intriguing question is how tall are his tales and to what ends? And why does he wear a beret and adopt a quasi military uniform? And why does he occasionally wear an eye patch?
“Ulrich Mott” (Christoph Waltz) Immediately described at a luxurious and opulent Georgetown political shindig for the wealthy and influential as “indispensable” and a “miracle worker” by various members of a star struck audience, it’s not long before “Amanda Breht” (Annette Bening) proclaims angrily “Every word he says is a fucking lie” as she continues to refuse to believe that this chancer and builder of his own myths is remotely suitable, or interested, in her much older and frail mother “Elsa Breht” (Vanessa Redgrave). Thus we have our thorn between two roses and a superficially charismatic, smiling and gregarious political activist who’s colourful background is painted with high powered stories, influence and a master of the darker arts of geopolitics. Mott is a fake, a fraud and the creator of his own story, but that’s hardly unique in Washington DC. Nor is his determination from a young age as a junior intern to climb the greasy political pole.
But his acting performance seemingly fools everyone.
Except Amanda.
A minimal supporting cast aid what is ostensibly a three hander with actor/director Waltz on fine, fine form as he faces off with the only person seemingly aware to his ruse. Annette Bening is fantastic, as always, as the pugnacious and protective daughter of her screen mother Vanessa Redgrave who I’m pleased to report has a far larger and more developed character role than I imagined at the film’s opening credits. All three Marquee stars are excellent in a film that covers the first two decades of the 21st Century, with the inclusion of many namedropped political titans of the day as well as a focus on the Iraq war, and not just a present time of opulence, success, believers and miracle workers.
Christoph Waltz’s direction is stylish, unhurried and a word I’ve used previously but which needs reinforcing, elegant. Two short scenes demonstrate this to perfection as a slowing descending and spiralling camera shot develops the black and white checkboard tiles of a Governmental office as a young Mott tries his hand at political intern and shortly thereafter, a brilliant moving camera captures a hurried and intense Mott as with a stolen accreditation pass, he makes his way through the rich and influential as he finds a suitable prey for his tall tales.
The bizarre based on real life story is well told if the three or four plot twists are signposted. I liked it but certainly not loved it and couldn’t shake the feeling that Waltz’s performance was eerily reminiscent of his unlikeable and duplicitous role in Tim Burton’s 2014 film Big Eyes.
Well worth a watch if the original New York Times Magazine article that spawned this film intrigues and interests you.
Thanks for reading. There are over 80 spoiler free film reviews within my archives and I’ve linked the three most recently published articles below:
“Spiderhead” (2022)
Echoes of Ex Machina in this dystopian psychological horrormedium.com
“Crimes of the Future” (2022)
“Surgery is the new sex”. Apparently.medium.com
“Hustle” (2022)
Adam Sandler shines in a so-so basketball dramamedium.com