The Post

Spielberg is really at home with these political issues. Maybe even too much. More than would be necessary. When I put on The Post, the initial shots of Vietnam were flawless. I even realized that I could easily imagine a film set in Vietnam and I wouldn’t mind it being repetitive at all. But after a while, the story goes where it needs to and so the story of the journalists sets off and that completely numbed me. As if they wanted to turn every turd into a movie in the US. (03/03/2018)

If you have no idea what went on in the upper echelons of American politics in the 60s and 70s, and names like Lyndon Johnson or Bob MacNamara mean nothing to you, you're going to end up with quite the headache. The Post counts on having a knowledgeable audience, and even despite such a complicated historical period, it wastes no time in explaining who's who, immediately dropping names and situations in such a heavy cadence that, for example, in one scene (when I had to physically write out the characters on paper) I discovered that the film figures if character A is talking to character B about a Henry, I should sort of figure out they're talking about Henry Kissinger. Wow. Except I like it that way, the movie is better able to focus on the motivations and dilemmas raging within each character instead of making them pieces on a historical chessboard. On that front, there's not much to fault (I reckon Meryl Streep's performance got on my nerves on purpose), despite the fact that 80% of the cast all look the same, i.e. like Clark Kent. Half of all the heavy lifting is done by Kaminski's cinematography, if only because Spielberg still insists on shooting on film stock, so we can enjoy that increasingly rare feeling of film grain and light yet crisp haze. Plus, though we're in smaller or larger rooms most of the time, the picture is most of the time in fluid motion, following where the characters are going, and more than once, for example, surprisingly jumping from one character to another. Almost every shot here could be used as a tutorial on how to work with movement, light, and composition to achieve the desired effect. But The Post is not flawless. I consider its biggest failure to be the beginning in Vietnam, where we’re supposed to understand the whistleblower's motivations, but because of the persistent low accessibility and overall drabness of the scene, it doesn't have the desired effect. Likewise the trendy emancipation pose, which feels out of place in the film, and it seems to me that the whole movement for female-male equality is only done a disservice by these over-the-top gestures. (25/05/2018)

A purely American theme. A prelude to the Watergate affair, the behind-the-scenes of important print stories in The Washington Post and The New York Times, and of course the story of Kate Graham. The roles could have been played by none other than Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. If you enjoy shots of printing presses, add a star. (25/04/2021)

A perfect film with a flawless Tom Hanks in the role of a journalistic shark - terminator, a 100% convincing Meryl Streep as a hesitant, kind of shy, and at the same time confident publisher, similarly excellent cast of all side roles and precise Spielberg directing. John Williams's music isn't in the film much, but when it is, it does a 100% great job, and Kamiński's camera has just as compelling of a period atmosphere as in Bridge of Spies or Lincoln. As for the plot, I literally fell in love with the investigative war meetings of journalists at Bradlee's house, where huge issues are dealt with, toasts are handed out lemonade is sold. For those interested in a sequel, to which the ending of the film unequivocally invites, watch All the President's Men - I’m sure that Steven Spielberg imagines it just like that. (22/02/2018)

A film that is mainly a celebration of journalism and freedom of speech, which I personally like, but on the other hand I feel that Spielberg is too pathetic and plays it too safe, which is also presented in the final scenes that are classically underwhelming and want to show the power of the moment at any cost. These are elements I don't like. Acting-wise, the film doesn't disappoint. (14/02/2018)