Lincoln

I was conflicted coming into this. Giving me hope for this was the treasure trove of excellent actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, David Strathairn, James Spader, and tons of others in smaller roles. I love history. I liked the idea of the movie focusing not the passing of the 13th Amendment and the politics behind it. On the other hand, there was one big factor giving me pause: Steven Spielberg. Really. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but it's how I feel; I find Spielberg overrated. I find his tendency towards nostalgic romanticism to be nauseating and myopic, I find his directorial style saccharine and reliant on certain crutches (the Spielberg zoom-in, for instance), and, away from the camera, I find him a crotchety, arrogant jerk who has assigned himself a gatekeeper of tradition and taste. See also Scorsese, Martin. So it was to my utter surprise to see that, if I didn't know this was directed by Spielberg, I wouldn't be able to tell at all. That was a huge relief. I was able to enjoy it without enduring 11 zoom-ins at a 20 degree angle from the actor as they stare into the middle distance, or a hazy softening of the era's necessary and defining sharp edges. If I need to convince anybody of the actors here being good, well, go look again at the actors I named. You think any of those people are bringing anything less than their A-game, especially to a historical drama about Lincoln and the passage of the 13th Amendment? Day-Lewis even speaks in a higher register, as historians note Lincoln's voice was not a booming voice, but described as "high, thin, and reedy". All the main cast melt into their roles; yes, you'll see Sally Field or Tommy Lee Jones and go "hey, [that person]!", but ten seconds later, that's Thaddeus Stevens and Mary Todd Lincoln. The only knock I have on the acting here is that there were some very solid actors brought in for positions that are little more than cameos. How you gonna have Walton Goggins or Joseph Gordon-Levitt or S. Epatha Merkerson and not give them more than half a dozen lines over a couple scenes? The cast list is an embarrassment of riches, sure, but when so many good names are used so sparingly, it feels like a couple of hundreds wrapped around a bundle of ones. At that point, just get up-and-comers, you know? The other knock I could levy against it is the one area where some Spielbergness comes through. Every conversation is a Meaningful Conversation. Every speech (and I'm not just talking about ones in the House Of Representatives) is an Important Speech. It feels like the movie constantly wants to remind you of the gravity of the situation with big important talky moments, and it comes off as forced and schmaltzy. Not every conversation is an important historical moment, and not every word everybody said back then had the profundity of the sages. Otherwise, this is a really solid, engrossing, engaging movie. 2 1/2 hours zipped by like I didn't even notice. The dialogue -- even if occasionally melodramatic and self-serious -- is period-accurate and falls lovely on the ear. The sets are gorgeous. The direction is simple and direct, the camera is always where it should be, and the actors are always throwing themselves into the roles. It's a damned solid watch.