Words by Yazen Al-Salman and James Rednall
As president Obama comes to the end of his first term in office and the race for the 2012 elections are starting to take shape; George Clooney’s film, The Ides of March, gives an indication to the American public’s changing perception of politics.
The on form Ryan Gosling stars as Stephen Meyers, the media officer to the democratic Mike Morris, played by George Clooney. Stephen is an idealistic young man, with strong believes, a character we’ve seen before. Stephen meets a young woman (Molly); an intern in the campaign; played by the delightful Evan Rachel Wood. The relationship between Stephen and Molly lead to some uncomfortable and disturbing findings; which changes Stephen’s view on everything. The film has a very strong supporting cast, with Paul Giamatti, as the opposing campaign manager who tries to lure Stephen away, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the democratic campaign manager, with Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright and Jennifer Ehle all giving strong performances.
George Clooney examines modern American politics in a calm, perceptive direction. The movie does not provide anything new or ground breaking and lacks some sort of emotional impact; it does however show very well Stephen’s changing view. The strong supporting cast’s performances add a lot to the movie’s theme. Overall, this is a good film, Clooney delivering a convincing performance and another step in the right direction for Ryan Gosling.
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