The Company You Keep (15.)
Directed by Robert Redford.
Starring Robert Redford, Shia LeBeouf, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Brendan Gleason, Nick Nolte, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper and Richard Jenkins. 121 mins.
This review comes to you from early 2013 when Studiocanal sat us down to see the new film with a star studded cast that they were planning to release in a month or two. And then nothing. (Apparently it was snuck into a few cinemas in August but without telling anyone.) I wonder what Redford has done to upset people because his film about a 60/70 radical who has been living under a false identity since a security guard was shot dead during a bank robbery, is far from awful.
In his late seventies, Robert Redford has grown to bear an uncanny resemblance to Donald Trump with a soul. They're both anachronistic figures with odd hair. Interviewed for his London Sundance festival Redford mentioned wryly that none of the directors that Sundance had mentored had chosen to cast him in their movies. It isn’t particularly surprising; what would they do with him? I can’t think of a figure less suited to a Tarantino style ironic reinvention. He is a living monument to a faded period of Hollywood stardom, a long gone period of upstanding liberal decency and soft radicalism.
His films exist outside the standard Hollywood continuum and just like Lions for Lambs this is another attempt to defend his legacy. At the start Susan Sarandon is arrested by the FBI, after living as a suburban housewife for three decades, for her involvement in the robbery perpetrated by radical group the Weather Underground. As a result a small town lawyer Redford finds his cover blown by a local journalist (LaBeouf) and forced to go on the run, leaving behind his 11 year old daughter. But where is he running to and for what purpose?
The Weather Underground and the other radical groups from that time are a fascinating subject because it strikes right at the heart of the modern day dilemma heart of what constitutes a terrorist. The film though makes claims to substance even as it shirks away from any real daring or importance. The film is weakened by Redford’s refusal to play a character whose morality is in anyway questionable, and by its need to assume the mantle of thriller, even though it doesn’t have any credible notions of how to thrill. Redford repeatedly avoids the FBI (headed by Terence Howard) by wearing a baseball cap to cover his face.
Still never mind the quality, feel the cast list. Redford’s ability to attract big names outdoes even Woody Allen – along with those mentioned above Sam Elliot, Brit Marling and Anna Hendricks pop in, often for just the one scene or one big speech.
Directed by Robert Redford.
Starring Robert Redford, Shia LeBeouf, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Brendan Gleason, Nick Nolte, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper and Richard Jenkins. 121 mins.
This review comes to you from early 2013 when Studiocanal sat us down to see the new film with a star studded cast that they were planning to release in a month or two. And then nothing. (Apparently it was snuck into a few cinemas in August but without telling anyone.) I wonder what Redford has done to upset people because his film about a 60/70 radical who has been living under a false identity since a security guard was shot dead during a bank robbery, is far from awful.
In his late seventies, Robert Redford has grown to bear an uncanny resemblance to Donald Trump with a soul. They're both anachronistic figures with odd hair. Interviewed for his London Sundance festival Redford mentioned wryly that none of the directors that Sundance had mentored had chosen to cast him in their movies. It isn’t particularly surprising; what would they do with him? I can’t think of a figure less suited to a Tarantino style ironic reinvention. He is a living monument to a faded period of Hollywood stardom, a long gone period of upstanding liberal decency and soft radicalism.
His films exist outside the standard Hollywood continuum and just like Lions for Lambs this is another attempt to defend his legacy. At the start Susan Sarandon is arrested by the FBI, after living as a suburban housewife for three decades, for her involvement in the robbery perpetrated by radical group the Weather Underground. As a result a small town lawyer Redford finds his cover blown by a local journalist (LaBeouf) and forced to go on the run, leaving behind his 11 year old daughter. But where is he running to and for what purpose?
The Weather Underground and the other radical groups from that time are a fascinating subject because it strikes right at the heart of the modern day dilemma heart of what constitutes a terrorist. The film though makes claims to substance even as it shirks away from any real daring or importance. The film is weakened by Redford’s refusal to play a character whose morality is in anyway questionable, and by its need to assume the mantle of thriller, even though it doesn’t have any credible notions of how to thrill. Redford repeatedly avoids the FBI (headed by Terence Howard) by wearing a baseball cap to cover his face.
Still never mind the quality, feel the cast list. Redford’s ability to attract big names outdoes even Woody Allen – along with those mentioned above Sam Elliot, Brit Marling and Anna Hendricks pop in, often for just the one scene or one big speech.
