Frost/Nixon could easily be the most distinctive movie that Ron Howard has made in his career thus far. It is far removed from his earlier movies like A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13, or perhaps not. A movie based on ‘actual events’ can be tricky. Thankfully, this fictionalized retelling of the electrifying 1977 interview of deposed American President Richard Nixon by British television guy David Frost, has managed to rise above the clichés and constraints that docu-fictions are more often than not seem to be governed by. The best aspect of this movie, like Queen (which, too, had Michael Sheen playing a ‘real’ character – Tony Blair there, as compared to Frost here), is that the director didn’t place history lessons over delving deep into the minds of the protagonists. And interestingly, on either occasion, the respective directors chose to have the more dramatic historical events as backdrops – the infamous Watergate Scandal and the tragic death of Princess Diana, respectively – masterstrokes, one might even say. A verbose and intense movie like this relies heavily on the actors, and the impressive cast, led by a towering, nuanced and a thoroughly brilliant turn by Frank Langella, certainly made the director’s job a lot easier than one might have imagined.
Director: Ron Howard
Genre: Drama/Political Drama/Psychological Drama/Docu-Fiction
Language: English
Country: US
