TIFF Closing Night Review: Page Eight (2011, Hare)
October 7th 2011 02:05
Page Eight (Hare, 2011)
Written September 21, 2011
Johnny, the main protagonist in the spy drama Page Eight is as sleek and suave a the jazz music he listens to. He’s played by Bill Nighy, who at the closing night gala of the Toronto Film Festival donned the same persona. Swaggering onto the stage to thunderous applause, Nighy struck a pose, spread his legs, and unbuttoned his jacket. To the audience, he played up desires of certain fans, saying something a long the lines of, ‘You know you want this.’ Nighy is charming, debonair and hilarious. His passion for this project was evident in his words, as the admiration, respect, and friendship between Nighy and writer/director David Hare.
The main focus of the evening was that this film, a British Made-for-TV project on a three million dollar budget, had been chosen above all to close the prestigious festival. Nighy and Hare were visibly humbled by and gracious for the honor.
I viewed the film on a gigantic screen in Roy Thompson Hall. For a film made on such a modest budget, Hare was smart to employ German cinematographer Martin Ruhe, whom did fantastic work on Control. This choice made what could have been a very basic looking film sleeker and crisper. Ruhe captured some of Britain’s drear but also bathed the scenes with Rachel Weisz in warm light to highlight the possible romantic connection that could occur between her character and Nighy’s.
I won’t bother to explain the plot of the film, mostly because it is somewhat convoluted but more so because I’m unsure if it actually works. It seems as though the subplot with Weisz’s character are moot points – her storyline does not directly tie into the other scandalous events and the way it becomes weaved into Nighy’s is suspect at best.
The tone of films such as this, which contain conspiracy theories and cover-ups, are all pretty much the same – and the audience is usually left playing catch-up while we try to piece together the information provided and then see if it all pans out. Hare is a brilliant writer and one of my personal favorites; however his screenplay doesn’t work as a whole.
Nighy, Michael Gabon, Judy Davis and a large supporting cast are all fantastic. Ray Fiennes makes what is a cameo at best and Weisz seems to be reprising roles she’s donned in the past. She seems nervous, unsettled, high-strung and playing the same notes we’ve seen previously. It’s a shame, as she is capable of more.
Page Eight isn’t a bad film – it’s just not a particularly memorable one. This is a film in which you say, “Yes, I saw that,” and a while down the road you perhaps forget you ever had. It’s a film that won’t stick out in your memory yet at the same time you won’t feel it was a waste of 99 minutes.
It’s nice the Toronto Film Festival chose to bestow this honor to a small film such as this, yet I’m not sure it was meant to be viewed in such a grandiose setting. The film honestly screams small screen and when not placed within the film festival context, and seen on the BBC or PBS, one may appreciate its tone and content more for what it is rather than what it was trying to be made into.
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