The Post

Señor Spielbergo has set a brutal pace once again and serves us two films per year. I previously saw his significantly more opulent Ready Player One, which absolutely captivated me and made me wonder how he tackled the subject matter, processed similarly to Spotlight or his older Bridge of Spies. And the seventy-one-year-old Steven seems to have caught a second wind, in maintaining which I wouldn't even be afraid of that proclaimed fifth Indy and in his fifth collaboration with the always excellent Tom Hanks, he serves us a suspenseful drama set just before WaterGate (it's mandatory to watch All the President's Men), about which I didn't know much before and it significantly enriched me in terms of information. What's more, even Meryl Streep entertained me here, even though I absolutely can't stand her otherwise and don't really like most of her movies with her, but here, maybe thanks to the vulnerability of her character (which is usually out of place), I quite liked her and in combination with other quality actors, it hit the mark for me. Two hours are just right, I certainly wasn't bored, but after watching it, I still had the feeling that I had seen similarly significant topics processed a bit more weightily and thrillingly, so I have to subtract that step after all. PS: Maybe only Mark Rylance is missing from it. (2018-04-04)

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. (2018-05-25)

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. (2021-04-25)

The press is supposed to serve the people, not the government... A prequel to Watergate and Wikileaks. Today's information overload, useless information and fabricated information that serves to confuse the public and prevents what matters from reaching the people. Spielberg shows the first victory, which started the spiral leading to today's confusion of the public by governments around the world. And he shows it playfully, clearly and with an emphasis on quality. Because quality and profitability go hand in hand. Or at least that's how it should be. (2023-10-27)

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. (2018-02-22)