Review of Hollywoodland (2006) by Velma C — 03 May 2009

I've wanted to see this movie for years. I wanted to see it when it first came out, and it just didn't end up happening. I never thought about it before I was doing the alphabetical order thing, so it has taken me until now. I know a lot of people who don't like Ben Affleck, but I always rather have. He's mostly only good at playing Ben Affleck, but I think in this film he played who he's afraid of becoming. George Reeves did have a good start in film as Stuart--not Brent--Tarleton in [i]Gone With the Wind[/i]. He did some good stuff, some of it critically and popularly successful. And then Hollywood decided who he was, and after he couldn't be that anymore, he could be anyone else, either. I don't think Ben Affleck will ever be that person. But I bet he's afraid he will. I bet half of Hollywood is afraid of being that person.

George Reeves (Affleck) is dead. They say he shot himself. The official verdict is suicide. But there are people, notably his mother, Helen Bessolo (Lois Smith), who don't really believe that the verdict. She hires Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) to find the truth. This involves, of course, digging into Reeves's past, including the touchy business of his long-term affair with Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), wife of studio exec Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins). At the time of his death, he had been engaged to Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunny), but he left his entire estate to Toni. There is the possibility of danger from Eddie, if it's true that Eddie had George killed. And underlying it all are two matching themes. One is the despair George has regarding his career, his uncertainty about himself and the women around him. The other is the hidden distates, hidden even from himself, that Louis feels for his career--and the fears of losing his son (Evan, played by Zach Mills, with his mother, Laurie, played by the ever-popular Molly Parker).

This movie is not for everyone. It's kind of slow. It's not what we think of when we think of "conspiracy" movies. It's not as though we run around, seeking mysterious contacts and dodging bullets. Sure, Louis gets beaten up, but mostly, he goes around talking to all the people who had already appeared in the papers. The attempt he makes to talk to either of the Mannixes don't go the way he hopes they would. Leonore hates him. Helen is probably not to be trusted. But in the end, we get a lot of Louis trying to sort out what he alread knows--and a lot of George trying to be something other than the idol of fifty million children.

Visually, I am enormously impressed with this film. When we follow Louis, we are in the slightly overexposed, washed out version of reality. The light is a little too bright. The colours are a little too pale. Things are a little too real, I think. On the other hand, George's world is the bright, lush, pure one of the glamour of Hollywood. That suit, the one he grew to hate--if he didn't start out hating it--is vivid blue and red. Ciro's is so clear you could sink into it. Even the B&W footage--Ben Affleck not-terribly-well edited into [i]From Here to Eternity[/i]--is sharper and cleaner. We don't really spend much time close to Molly Parker, but her trademark pale skin does not make the same mark here as it does in the sepia world of [i]Deadwood[/i] or even the simple, earthy world of [i]Men With Brooms[/i]. Louis's world, especially to him, is not the real one.

There is a legend that Reeves died jumping out a window, believing he could fly. The sad truth is that a man who would do such a foolish thing would have to really love the role, really believe in it. In the last days of his life, there were jobs available for George Reeves. The problem he had with them was that they were all jobs as Superman. He wanted to act in great movies. He wanted to direct--and there, he'd settle for not-so-good ones. He wanted to make a mark on the world on [i]adults[/i]. But in the end, the only person George Reeves had was Superman, and that just wasn't enough for him.