There is often a struggle when one piece of media is adapted into another. Many times films adapted from plays are identifiable even before viewing the credits. As good as a movie like Doubt is, it suffers from its theatrical background. The melodrama eclipses the actual narrative, and its staging appears as though it is still tied to its origins on the theatrical stage. Frost/Nixon does not have this problem. It transforms a series of interviews into a piece of cinematic confrontations between David and Goliath. In this story, Goliath is of course Nixon (Frank Langella) and David is Frost (Michael Sheen), and their battle fills the screen.
There are no major problems with Frost/Nixon. The film achieves what it sets out to accomplish. The films’ performances are spotlighted, as war is waged between the interviewer and subject. Rebecca Hall stars in the film’s standout supporting role. Her character begins as just someone for Frost to pick up, but later her character transforms into his rock. As Frost and Nixon emote, Hall is able to act as support and guide Frost as he works his way through the interview process. Her turn in Vicky Cristina Barcelona was incredible and Frost/Nixon highlights her versatility as an actress.
Ron Howard has never offered anything astonishingly new to filmmaking. He has instead done something many filmmakers never learn to do; he has become a great storyteller. Howard is a renaissance man of sorts. He makes films in entirely separate genres from one another. His best works are a classic kind of drama, and although Frost/Nixon enters this category it doesn’t quite live up to the previous set, when compared with films like Apollo 13 and Cinderella Man, although it comes close.
Frost/Nixon is one of the year’s better movies. Frank Langella gives a great performance as Nixon. It never feels as though Langella is imitating Nixon, instead he uses Nixon’s attributes to make his own character. He captures the essence of a man who was always larger than life. On the other hand, Michael Sheen plays Frost with constant uncertainty. If anything is this why Frost/Nixon works. There is a sense of overwhelming odds that make the verbal duel much more interesting.
In just a few months Howard will release Angels & Demons, the sequel to his 2006 film, The Da Vinci Code. I wasn’t a fan of the first film, but I suppose anything that makes that much money demands a sequel. Here’s hoping that Howard will get back to making films in the vein of Frost/Nixon. Even though Howard brought Langella and Sheen from the stage their performance never verge upon the theatrical, instead the time the two actors spent with the characters on the stage seems to have enhanced their overall understanding of the characters they’re portraying. Thanks to Howard’s direction Frost/Nixon now takes it’s place as a special piece of cinema.
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