Review of Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (2016) by Spangle — 12 May 2017

A solid indie film, Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer becomes far more compelling and resonant when it gets on with the tragic fall portion of its tale. While its final message can be troubling (though, hopefully, that is unintentional) and its moderate rise portion is quintessential character study indie with a run-of-the-mill approach to its story, Norman is a mostly entertaining film bolstered by some style displayed by director Joseph Cedar and an excellent leading performance by Richard Gere. Aside from those two elements, Norman is hardly a film that will stand out from the crowd and will likely get lost in time, even if it has an oddly great cast with Gere, Michael Sheen, Dan Stevens, Steve Buscemi, Lior Ashkenazi, Josh Charles, and Charlotte Gainsbourg, all appearing here in mostly small roles.

Norman Oppenheimer (Gere) is one of those character studies of a man who is seen by everyone around him as a loser. Presenting himself as a consultant who tries to rub elbows with people who would never give him the time of day, Norman stalks potential business partners and tries to needle his way in any door. He is so unsuccessful that even his nephew Philip Cohen (Michael Sheen) tries to steer clear of being seen with him. However, when he creates a friendship with a member of the Israeli parliament who goes onto become Prime Minister of Israel, Misha Eshel (Lior Ashkenazi), Norman is at the brink of making it all come together. Now, he just has to hustle to really be a king. He has to get Misha's son into Harvard using the fact that Philip went to Harvard and still has ties to the admissions counsel. For Philip, he has to get Rabbi Blumenthal (Steve Buscemi) to officiate his wedding to a Korean convert. For the Rabbi, he has to get Bill Kavish (Dan Stevens) to convince his wealthy boss to donate enough money to save the Rabbi's synagogue. For Bill and his boss, he has to get Misha to introduce them to a person within the United States treasury department. Juggling all of these balls only to get caught up in a bribery investigation with regard to Misha and having to overcome his appearance of being a loser, Norman quickly begins to experience his tragic fall.

With everybody on his back for not delivering what he has promised due to the fact that Misha's assistants have cut Norman off from contact with the Prime Minister, Norman is faced with failure after failure. Doors he could once sneak through are now slammed shut with people turning against him from every angle. The only thing that could make it worse is prior acquaintance Alex Green (Charlotte Gainsbourg) investigating the Prime Minister and Norman for an illegal business relationship between the two. Having realized he is a loser after being hounded by a man named Srul Katz (Hank Azaria) in a similar way to how he stalked men such as Bill Kavish earlier in the film, Norman is already down and out. His options are limited and this is where this character study really succeeds. While his mightily slow rise to the top is quite plainly written and hardly reveals anything about anybody, his tragic fall shows how cruel humanity can be. Everybody knew he could not deliver, but turn against him at the end and chastise him. They cut him off and even the Rabbi beats him up in an alley. He is destitute and backed against a wall. He has realized he is not a businessman, but just another bum on the streets. There is nothing to live for and there is nobody there for him. It is in this solitude where Gere acts the hell out of this role with a slow and labored realization of the truth. His solemn and reserved nature, hiding his inner turmoil, is powerful to watch unfold and fitting of the word "tragic". Until the film is able to reach this tragic fall, however, its moderate rise is rather dull and safe. It has moments of light comedy with an awkward score that is light and bubbly, which is wholly ill-fitting for its on-screen events. Norman is mostly an unlikable character who we can all see is a loser, but has none of the self-recognition yet. Its introduction to this world is far too labored and exposition-heavy to really compel or grip us, instead belaboring the point that nobody will talk to him and that he goes to creepy lengths to find business partners. Its first two acts are essentially just the same as any other independent film from the past few years about a man who is struggling and unable to really see that he is not treading water, but rather is drowning rapidly. Its painfully plain opening is just too safe and run-of-the-mill to really work beyond the strong performance from Gere in this portion.