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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 2012)
MOVI ES BY MO LLY TEMP LETO N SPIELBERG’S 13TH AMENDMENT Daniel Day-Lewis rises above the historically cumbersome Lincoln LINCOLN: Directed by Steven Spielberg. Screenplay by Tony Kushner, based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals. Cinematography, Janusz Kaminski. Editing, Michael Kahn. Music, John Williams. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader and Joseph Gordon- Levitt. Touchstone Pictures, 2012. PG-13. 150 minutes. 00021 L incoln, contrary to what its name implies, is not a defining portrait of a man, though Daniel Day- Lewis’ performance as Abraham Lincoln is one of his defining roles. Stooped, quiet, introverted, exhausted, brilliant and prone to making his point via stories, Day-Lewis’ Lincoln is the calm center to a complex and flawed film about the 16th president — and about the role of politics in America’s terrible relationship with race. Steven Spielberg’s film — written by Tony Kushner and based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s highly praised book Team of Rivals — takes place after Lincoln has been elected for a second term. The Civil War drags on, but the end is creeping into sight, and Lincoln has realized that his Emancipation Proclamation may not hold up once the war is over. His focus becomes the passage of the 13th Amendment, which faces considerable opposition in the House. The politicians opposing the amendment are largely one-note villains, though Lee Pace’s Fernando Wood is a lively orator. Lincoln’s complexities are more apparent in the character of Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones), who tempers his fiercely abolitionist position in one of the movie’s most interesting moments. Reluctantly, Stevens makes a stark moral compromise in the interest of garnering support for the amendment. The film — with the clunking assistance of John Williams’ intrusive and inelegant score — plays this as a quiet triumph, a difficult choice made in the service of greater goals. Lincoln is full of small, ugly moments necessary for the amendment’s passage. Lincoln’s secretary of state, William Seward (David Strathairn), hires a trio of lobbyists to coerce Democrats into voting for the amendment, and their efforts are inexplicably often played for laughs, the soundtrack taking on a down-home twang as they go about their business. Perhaps this is just meant to lighten the scene a bit, but it’s jarring, considering the work being done. But Lincoln often stumbles when it steps away from Day-Lewis and Jones. Secondary plotlines involving Robert Lincoln (a miscast Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field), and the family’s grief over the son who was killed in the war, drag on, heavy with sentimentality. The scene in which Field trades barbs with Stevens does too little to balance out the amount of time she’s asked to spend weeping and bereft, the emotional counterpart to Lincoln’s stoic, intellectual calm. This isn’t a lionizing movie; it’s not a film that presents you with a man and his work and expects you to bask in his brilliance. In quiet ways, it’s more nuanced than that. Stevens is as vital to the passage of the amendment as Lincoln; the ugly politics required to push it into being are neither glossed over nor unnecessarily lauded. For the most part, they’re presented as simply the lengths Lincoln felt it necessary to go to in order to do away with slavery. Lincoln is long, occasionally complicated and full of middle-aged white men with impressive facial hair. For a movie about our country’s slow press toward equality, it’s unnervingly content to mostly have its few black actors stand around looking grateful, as if black Americans played no part in the fight for emancipation. Even if Spielberg wanted to keep the focus on the politicians, he could have found time to better establish the characters of Mrs. Keckley (Gloria Reuben) and Mr. Slade (Stephen Henderson). But Lincoln’s flaws don’t keep it from succeeding on several levels: as a showcase for Daniel Day-Lewis; as an interesting and engrossing biography of an amendment and a man; and as an uncomfortable and pointed reminder about the hideous racism that’s an unavoidable piece of America’s makeup. ■ Adv. Tix on Sale LES MISERABLES Adv. Tix on Sale LORD OF THE RINGS MARATHON - EVENT PRICING KILLING THEM SOFTLY (R) Fri. - Sat.(1130 215) 500 745 1030 ANNA KARENINA [CC] (R) Fri. - Sat.(1215) 415 715 1015 THE COLLECTION (R) Fri. - Sat.(1200 230) 445 730 945 LIFE OF PI 3D [CC,DV] (PG) ★ Fri. - Sat.(1150 1220) 430 725 955 1025 LIFE OF PI [CC,DV] (PG) ★ Fri. - Sat.(250 PM) 650 PM RED DAWN [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(1155 220) 450 740 1035 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS [CC,DV] (PG) ★ Fri. - Sat.(205) 435 700 935 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS 3D (PG) ★ Fri. - Sat.(1210) 405 630 905 TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN, PART 2 [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(1240) 420 705 1000 LINCOLN [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(1140 300) 645 1005 IMAX: SKYFALL [CC,DV] (PG-13) ★ Fri. - Sat.1205 400 710 1020 SKYFALL [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(1135 245) 640 950 WRECK-IT RALPH [CC,DV] (PG) Fri. - Sat.(1225) 410 655 940 FLIGHT [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(1145 255) 635 945 ARGO [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(1235) 425 720 1010 Adv. Tix on Sale LES MISERABLES Adv. 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Smith Directed by Ron Judd Nov. 30-Dec. 2*, 6-9* * Sunday Matinees All Seats $10 Gen. Admission %R[RIÀFHRSHQ² :HG²6DW2350 Hilyard St. Tix on-line at TheVLT.com 541-344-7751 eugeneweekly.com • November 29, 2012 21
