State of Play

Based on the BBC mini-series of the same title, a team of investigative reporters work alongside a police detective to try to solve the murder of a congressman’s mistress.

The brief synopsis above may cloud your judgement ever so slightly, why? Because these reporters don’t totally work alongside the police willingly. Slowly unwrapping what is needed to be one of the greatest ambulance chasing hacks in the world.

 

At a time when you can read the news online, switch on 7 or 8 news service television stations or listen to countless bulletins on the radio this film looks at the future of the newspaper. The saying that today’s news is tomorrows fish wrapper is also outdated, you can use it for lunch. So when you have a good story, you must make sure that it is going to be big, ruthless and sensational to bring in your readers.

So why am I having this rant? Well that is almost one part of an intertwined story which slowly twists and turns then bumps and grinds all into a giant cats cradle. But the fun in a cats cradle is to slowly unwind the strands and bring it all back into a single straightforward piece of string.

State of play is pure genius in the film making. Kevin MacDonald has this brilliance in direction which lets actors ruthlessly unleash all their powers with just a gentle nudge of creativity. Acting wise you can never falter Dame Helen Mirren and we are back to best for Crowe, but can I introduce you Ben Affleck? It has only taken 49 pictures to do it but he has learnt to act, and act well.

Prepare for a long film, but prepare to be entertained. You leave wanting to know more about the BBC drama if you have not seen it and look forward to getting stuck in full throttle to that also.

~Review by Alex

 

 

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