Wednesday, February 24, 2021

News of the World (2020)

Jack and I really liked this story of a Civil War veteran who makes his living in 1870 traveling the West and reading news stories to townspeople. When he comes upon a white girl, raised by Native Americans, alone in the woods, he takes on the task of transporting her to her biological family on the other side of Texas. The plot is interesting and the telling is gripping.

Tom Hanks, his usual avuncular self, would command every scene as Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, were it not for the scene stealing of German-born Helena Zengel, now 12. Her character is 10. Ray McKinnon, Mare Winningham, Elizabeth Marvel, and Bill Camp have small but pivotal parts.

Paul Greengrass directs and co-wrote the screenplay with Luke Davies, adapted from Paulette Jiles' 2016 novel. There might be too much violence for some viewers, especially the scenes which earned the SAG nomination for stunt ensemble.

James Newton Howard gives us good Western music which I am currently streaming on Apple Music. It's also on Spotify.

The glorious photography, shot entirely in New Mexico, is thanks to Darius Wolski.

Hanks was last blogged for It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood before making a cameo as himself in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. McKinnon was last in these pages for Ford v Ferrari, Marvel for The Meyerowitz Stories,  Greengrass for Captain Phillips, Davies for Beautiful Boy, Howard for Roman J. Israel, Esq., and Wolski for All the Money in the World.

Zengel, even at her tender age, has eight other credits in Germany. My favorite role of Winningham's earned her an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actress in Georgia (1996) and I also liked her in St. Elmo's Fire (1985), Miracle Mile (1988), all six episodes of Mildred Pierce, and Philomena. Camp may be best known, recently, as the janitor in five episodes of The Queen's Gambit, but before that, some of his work I have liked includes parts in 12 Years a Slave, Love & Mercy, Loving, Joker, and playing Gerald Ford in Vice.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' and audiences' averages of 88 and 89% lend journalistic integrity to the nominations and awards accrued by the movie, listed in my post on nominations and wins sorted by title.

It's rentable on all the major platforms for $19.99 and we did so on iTunes yesterday.

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