The making of one man’s reputation, the final dismantling of another’s, Frost/Nixon is a tremendous work and a fitting continuation of Fourth Estate movies at the London Film Festival (Good Night, And Good Luck in 05; Lions For Lambs in 07). Brilliantly adapted by Peter Morgan from his own award-winning play, this is compelling, thrilling, darkly funny and tragic cinema, reflecting on living history, and while time and place are beautifully realised, it has points to make about the present and future too.
There are several keys to the success of this movie: one, Morgan’s script which is as unflinching on Frost as it is on Nixon; two, the superb cast, including Michael Sheen and Frank Langella reprising their London and Broadway performances and chemistry, backed by well-picked support (Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt, Matthew Macfadyen, Kevin Bacon, Toby Jones and Rebecca Hall); and three, consummate, unintrusive direction by Ron Howard.
Shot as a faux documentary, the film charts both protagonists’ reasons for wanting to do the interviews, Frost’s trials and tribulations in setting the interviews up, the preparation (noticeably more focus on Frost here) and then the interviews themselves and their aftermath.
The interviews, if predictably set up as rounds within a boxing match, are astonishing - and the excerpts well-chosen to highlight the protagonists’ strengths and weaknesses. The confession, when it comes, is riveting cinema.
At times in fact, it’s hard not to see Langella replaying one of his great roles: there is more than a whiff of Dracula about Nixon – and the relationship between the ex-president and the TV celebrity is not dissimilar to that between the Count and Jonathan Harker.
At first acquaintance, Frost/Nixon seems endlessly watchable – I suspect repeated viewings will not diminish its power.
At this stage, it’s hard to see any film beating it to all the key Oscars and BAFTAs. This is just plain outstanding.
Score: 10
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