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Red Joan (2018)
Red Moan when it could have been so much more.
While watching the film, my feelings toward it was like a pendulum, swinging from 'This is a well crafted film' to 'this is nothing more than left wing propaganda'. My research after the film allowed me to settle for the latter.
I'll start with the positives. For most part, you can't fault the performances, especially from our two Joans - Cookson is wonderful and Dench reliably delivers. It was evocative of the planned back story for her M in Skyfall before it was shelved in favour of the final product, but I digress.
Red Joan is structurally sound. The narrative evolves at a beautiful pace and never did it lag. I believed the character and story development (except perhaps the actions of one male character toward the end). The technical aspects were beautiful too - the cinematography, the music and art direction all very palatable. Which is why it's so disappointing that the politics bogs this down to glossy revisionist propaganda.
The sell is that the Cold War hinged on this one woman's decision to pass atomic research over to the Russians in the hopes it will deter the superpowers from ever claiming lives, and older Joan claims that WWIII was averted because of her actions. A bit of a stretch, but when the film opens with 'inspired by a true story', you believe the basic plot points are what you get. The closing moments in the film highlight that Joan didn't exist, and in fact it was a Melita Norwood who passed such research to the Russians. She was a staunch communist who wholeheartedly believed in the ideology that claimed millions more lives than Hitler. In turn, the film amps up the dissonance Joan has between East vs West, which creates a much more sympathetic character, but glosses over the genocidal regime in Russia. Instead, the film focuses on an anti-US rhetoric and glamourises left wing ideology. Given how Joan takes refuge in Australia, one can interpret her actions are naive mistakes from a girl who was swept away by love, which would be a much easier pill to swallow. However, given the film ends on the brief information surrounding Melita's story, it strongly suggests a desire to sensationalise Melita's life and allegiance to Moscow, which is far from heroic and needn't be celebrated. Explored, perhaps from a different point of view, but certainly not honoured.
Becoming Bond (2017)
Warm retelling from Lazenby himself, marred by terrible re-enactments
With the myriad of stories floating around about Lazenby's decision to quit Bond, this appears to be the truthful version - reinforced because of Lazenby's truthful and genuine telling of his story. His reflection on the Bond days in both rare interview footage from the time, coupled with the reflection of his love for Belinda, rings true.
The only downside? Aside from Jane Seymour's casting, the rest of the ensemble during the re- enactments are woeful. Lawson proves he isn't cut out for biopics (again, mind) and Clementi extends her soap opera acting here, disallowing the audience to buy into their relationship. The actor playing Saltzman created a cartoonish depiction of the producer; the portrayal of Hunt was less intrusive, but not necessarily good.
Negativity aside, it was excellent to see clips of the Bond films and interviews interwoven, as well an excellent score underpinning the visual content (with a welcome appearance of the Bond theme).
Informative and honest, funny and warm. But a little disappointed by some of the acting.