The Ides of March (Clooney, 2011)
Yesterday would have been Philip Seymour Hoffman’s 57th birthday. He passed away tragically in 2014 and who knows what great performances we were cheated of.
An outraged Anthony Lane wrote this in the New Yorker as a response to Hoffman’s death.
There’s always a lot on my mind, so this mashup of a Hoffman tribute and US election drama is today’s recommendation.
I reviewed this on release in March 2012:
Hoffman then proceeds to act the great Ryan Gosling off the screen in every scene they share in The Ides of March, George Clooney’s latest as director. It’s coming up to the crucial Ohio primary and Clooney’s idealistic state governor Morris needs a tiny push to confirm the nomination against his more traditional opponent. Hoffman is seasoned campaign manager Paul Zara and Gosling is the gifted young apprentice. When the wheels start to fall off – mostly self-inflicted by a campaign that doesn’t know whether it prefers winning to being right – they turn on each other and the veneer of idealism disintegrates.
I’m still not sure whether Gosling is genuinely out his depth in The Ides of March or is just playing someone who is. Even so, Clooney’s film is strangely cynical about political motivation but would have been much more entertaining if he’d focused on the clowns currently fighting it out on the Republican side.
Even in 2011, Clooney’s political drama felt nostalgic, like the world had already moved on and was never to return.
Hoffman also featured in another film that week: Moneyball with Brad Pitt; but there was also Fassbender in Shame; Andrew Haigh’s debut Weekend; Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy and Chris Pine in the instantly forgotten This Means War; and the lovely Big Miracle (recommended here back in March.)
Please list your favourite Hoffman performances in the comments.
Oh, and Clooney should put his money where his mouth is and put himself forward for Kamala Harris’ VP nomination. He’s certainly ready.
Where to watch The Ides of March
Aotearoa: Streaming on TVNZ+ (free with ads)
Australia: Streaming on Prime Video or Stan
Canada, Ireland, USA and UK: Digital rental
